History

The winery known today as LaVelle Vineyards actually began as Forgeron Vineyard, and is the oldest winery in Oregon's Southern Willamette Valley. The previous owners, Lee and Linda Smith, were pioneers in the Oregon wine industry, planting the bulk of the estate vineyard between 1968 and 1972. A downturn in the premium wine market in the early 1990's resulted in the closing of Forgeron Vineyard in 1992. The property was purchased by Doug LaVelle in April 1994 and has since been known as LaVelle Vineyards.

As Doug LaVelle neared the end of a 29 year career with GTE Corporation (now Verizon Communications), he began to think about his long-standing desire to run his own business, and to retire in the Pacific Northwest. When the idea of owning a winery began to take shape, Oregon's Willamette Valley became the ideal place to look. After an extensive search of available properties the former Forgeron Vineyard became the prime candidate because, as Doug often puts it, "We liked Eugene, the property was beautiful, and it was the only thing we could afford." In August 2006, Doug's son Matthew LaVelle joined LaVelle Vineyards as Operations Manager and in doing so has made LaVelle Vineyards a successful, generational family business.

After an extensive remodeling, the winery tasting room opened on Memorial Day weekend in 1996. Because LaVelle Vineyards wine inventory was limited, wine sales were originally supplemented by selling the wines of other nearby wineries.

Today, LaVelle Vineyards operates two tasting rooms, the second location being in Eugene's historic 5th Street Public Market. This small winery is also proud of a wine club, which now has over 1,200 members. In addition, LaVelle Vineyards wines are distributed in Oregon and selected out of state markets.