This interview is with Colt Deitrick. In this interview, Colt speaks about his background, growing up in a small town in western Kentucky before moving to Illinois, studying jazz piano and audio engineering in college, and eventually finding his way into the hospitality industry, where he discovered a passion for food and beverage.

Next, he discusses his journey to Newport and Local Ocean Restaurant, starting as a bartender and working his way up to running the beverage program, including developing cocktails and focusing on technique and high-quality ingredients.

Colt talks about his approach to creativity and collaboration, including working with different companies on branded wines, creating cocktail kits during COVID, and experimenting with new ideas that customers may not have experienced before.

This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Local Ocean Restaurant in Newport, Oregon on February 2, 2026.

This interview is with Trevor Smith. In this interview, Trevor speaks about his work in wine production around the world, including stints at Antica Terra in Oregon, Screaming Eagle in Napa, and elsewhere. He talks about what initially drew him to wine and the enjoyable hard work of wine production.

Later he takes us through the places he has worked, including Champagne, England, and as a consulting winemaker in California. He talks about the challenges and successes of his career, and of finding his way back to his home state of Oregon.

He talks about his work with his longtime friend Andrew Riechers on various projects, including Oregon brands Audeant, Sacred Shores, and Archer, and about what he still hopes to accomplish in his winemaking career.

This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt in the Nicholson Library at Linfield University in McMinnville on January 27, 2026.

This interview is with Travis Culley, a Linfield grad and local wine industry veteran. In this interview, Travis talks about attending Linfield in the 90s, beginning to work at Nick’s Italian Cafe the week before he started his freshman year, and all his adventures since then.

Travis talks about being introduced to wine through Riesling while his dad was in the Air Force and his family lived in Germany. They later moved to Weston, OR near Pendleton, and Travis came to Linfield in 1990. The week before classes started, his roommate took him to Nick’s Italian Cafe to help clean up the kitchen. He ended up working there for the next 11 years.

Travis discusses his involvement with IPNC and how he ended up in the background of a very famous picture outside of Nick’s. During a dinner with dozens of influential winemakers sometime in the late 90s, everyone gathered outside the restaurant to take a picture, and Travis stood on a chair on the other side of the window to be included.

Later in the interview, Travis talks about going wine tasting at various local wineries on Thanksgiving and Memorial Day weekends to visit places that sold wine to Nick’s. It was through these tastings that he started working holiday weekends at Archery Summit and WillaKenzie, and for the last 27 years at Belle Pente Winery.

This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Linfield University’s Nicholson Library on January 26, 2026.