Not all Damsels are in distress. In fact, Mari has things pretty well in hand. Winemaker and owner, Mari Womack began her love affair with wine while working in Seattle restaurants. She caught the wine bug early when food and wine pairings captured her heart and her imagination. In 2010, she began working in nearby Woodinville tasting rooms, including Obelisco Estate and volunteering at Baer Winery during harvest. Becoming a part of the Woodinville wine community fostered her enthusiasm for winemaking and encourage her to dream big.
Through these efforts, Mari was able to meet several winemakers in Woodinville and became the assistant winemaker at Darby Winery in 2011. Now working on vintage number six, her wines continue to impress and she’s amassing a loyal following. It is with pride and passion that Mari introduces her wines to you. The romance, ritual and history of wine continues to motivate and inspire her.
At a bar in San Francisco in 1998, Erica Orr met winemaker Aaron Pott who convinced her that winemaking was the coolest job in the world. She took a vacation from her lab tech job at UCSF to work harvest with Cathy Corison while applying to the master’s program at UC Davis. She was hooked and there was no turning back. Erica honed her craft working at some of the best wineries in the world: Rudd Estate, Cain Vineyard, Domaine Dujac and Yering Station. In 2005, she moved to Washington state and started an independent winemaking consulting and enology business in Woodinville, where she helped wineries like Baer, Mark Ryan, Guardian, Sparkman and others rack up 90+ point scores and now two Wine Spectator Top 100 wines. In 2013, Erica decided the time had come to create a wine all her own. The inaugural and limited release of Orr Wines – 116 cases of old vine chenin blanc – came into being with the generous help and goodwill of the Woodinville winemaking community.
