About Torii Mor Winery

Our Story

Torii Mor Winery started with a vision: the pursuit of elegant, Old World style Pinot Noir.

Dr. Donald Olson moved to Oregon to pursue this vision and purchased McDaniel vineyard in the Willamette Valley, planted in 1972, and renamed it Olson Estate Vineyard. High in the Dundee Hills, the ten acres of old vines produce high-quality Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay year after year.

Don was drawn to the close ties Pinot Noir has to the earth and its ability to express terroir. The name Torii Mor derives from the Torii gate in the property’s Japanese garden and the ancient Scandinavian word for earth. Together, the name is a nod to Pinot Noir’s expression of terroir and connection to the earth.

After the first vintage in 1993 with just 1,000 cases, Torii Mor today produces 10,000 cases annually under the direction of Jon Tomaselli. Jon produces wines of elegance and balance that Don began pursuing years ago and Torii Mor continues to pursue elegance in wine making, respect for the earth, and balanced wines that can be enjoyed for years to come.

Don Olson

Winemaking

At Torii Mor, our winemaker works in harmony with nature. It is a process that begins with the purest of waters from our artesian well, passing into the grapes of our vines, and through our methods, becoming wines of elegance and intention.

The Japanese torii gate symbolizes a passage and transition into the sacred. With every sip of our wines, our intent is that you too may experience a transition: From energy into balance, and the harmony within.

Jon Tomaselli - Head Winemaker

With three generations of Italian winemakers in his family, Jon Tomaselli began his love affair with wine at the age of 4 years old while assisting the elder Tomasellis in their viticultural endeavors. By the age of 8, Jon knew he had found his calling in life. In 1999, Jon graduated from Arizona State with a degree in small business management. After four long years in the trenches of corporate America, Jon went into business for himself brokering wine grapes from California and wine equipment. Upon moving to Oregon in 2006, Jon was offered a position at Torii Mor and in 2007, was promoted to Associate Winemaker under the direction of winemaker Jacques Tardy. Fast forward to 2021, today, Jon is our head winemaker.

Meet our Torii Mor Team
The Zen Starts Here

Dundee Estate Team

Jon Tomaselli

Head Winemaker/Staff Team Lead

Jon is the head winemaker at Torii Mor and also the team leader, directing the daily operations production of the staff with over 15 years of expertise in the industry. He is committed to producing the high quality, premium Dundee Hills AVA wines Torii Mor is known for since the program was established by industry standout Patricia Green in 1993.

Matt Freeman

National Sales Manager

Matt has worked more than 20 years in the adult beverage business with extensive experience in the three tier system in the Pacific Northwest in many states on the distributor side, broker side and the supplier side. He understands the dynamics of the Pacific Northwest distributor networks, chain, club and on-premise platforms and has managed pricing and programming for multiple brands. He has extensive experience working with both large (SGWS and Youngs) and smaller regional distributors and was trained at the iconic Gallo brand.

Kerry McDaniel Boenisch

Marketing & Winery Operations Director

Kerry and her family planted the Dundee Hills estate vineyard and built the original winery house in 1972. She is an experienced wine industry sales pro and is a wine, food and hospitality industry journalist, brand manager and motivational speaker. She has worked with multiple west coast wineries from small-label to international global wine producers and comes full circle back to Torii Mor to tell the Torii Mor brand story as enters it’s 50th year in 2022.

Nicolas Trempcourt

Wine Club Manager

Nicolas is a native of France and brings his international viticultural knowledge to our team as the wine club manager. Many Torii Mor guests will recognize him from his service in the tasting room as manager. He worked in the film industry in France and is a native of the Loire valley.

Hayley Heintz

Tasting Room Manager

Hayley is a native Oregonian who grew up in Sandy in the Mt. Hood region. She’s had a decade of experience in the hospitality and customer service industry and uses this expertise to provide premium customer service experiences for the guests of the Dundee Tasting Room. She has a dog named Juju and a cat named Beans and likes to hike in her leisure time.

Heather White

Office and Accounting Manager

Torii Mor’s office manager and accountant has over two decades of experience in the bookkeeping industry who studied accounting and mathmatics at Western Oregon University. She is adept at organizing office structure and system process. Heather is a Yamhill County native and enjoys the Seattle Seahawks, spending time with her family and going to OMSI with her grandson.

Derek Rau

Director of Distilling Operations

Derek is a Nebraska native and Marine Corps veteran. He is currently living in Dundee but has lived all over the world serving the military, including California and Okinawa, Japan, where he operated bars and learned how to distill. He has experience showing and training guide dogs and enjoys curling in his spare time.

The Woodinville, Washington Tasting Room

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Alaina Crawford

Woodinville Tasting Room Manager

Alaina manages the Woodinville, Washington Tasting Room. She has extensive experience in the Washington Wine Industry, creates unique Pacific Northwest food and wine pairing events with local Washington vendors and manages an outstanding staff!

The Torii Mor Woodinville Team

Woodinville Tasting Room Staff Members:

We value our Torii Mor Washington State staff members! Pictured from left to right: Jenny, Emily, Alaina, Justine, Ashley and Casey.

Sustainability

We are proud to be a part of the innovations made in the state of Oregon in environmental stewardship. In 2007, we built our gravity flow winery on Olson Estate Vineyard, complete with solar panels on our south facing roof. Our commitment to sustainability has awarded us two special achievements.

Live Certification

We are one of 41 wineries that strive towards responsible wine production and vineyard cultivation. We limit water consumption and fuel usage during production and use only environmentally safe chemicals and fertilizers in the vineyard.

LEED Gold Certification

We received our certification in March 2010 by meeting very specific guidelines. Our gravity flow winery helps us reduce our footprint in a variety of ways. From a roof with a low Solar Reflectance Index to our solar panels on the south side of our roof, to installing aerators and planting local plants to reduce overall water usage, and using recycled materials whenever possible, we have a building that is not only functional but kind to the environment.

The Vineyards

Olson Estate Vineyard has been the cornerstone of our production since our first vintage in 1993. Since then we have had the pleasure to work with a variety of prestigious vineyards within the state of Oregon.

Most of the fruit for our wines comes from the Dundee Hills AVA, the home of Torii Mor, as well as nearby Yamhill-Carlton AVA and Chehalem Mountains AVA. We also source warm weather grapes from Southern Oregon in the Rogue Valley, to create our beloved Port. Sourcing from a variety of AVAs around the state allows us to take advantage of the beauty that is Oregon and translate that into the bottle to enjoy.