Queer Wine Fest set for 4th year in Dayton at Remy Wines

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Winemaker Remy Drabkin founded Remy Wines in Dayton, Oregon in 2006. For the past four years the winery has hosted the Queer Wine Fest.

“Queer Wine Fest is a big impact on the area,” Drabkin told KOIN 6 News, noting it raises “money for Wine Country Pride, which in turn gives scholarships and puts out community grants that are really focused on economic activity and general business support in addition to all the celebrations.”

But Drabkin also said the Queer Wine Fest, which “brings together queer-owned, queer-made and queer-grown wines from across the country for an outdoor tasting and celebration” is an important component to remind everyone about who queer people are.

“We’re old and young. We are every race and religion and ethnicity, and we’re in pretty much every political party and we are very rich and we are very poor and everywhere in between. And truthfully, our community suffers at higher rates of homelessness and drug addiction and suicide than other communities,” Drabkin said. “So creating safe gathering spaces really for all people, because queer people are all people.”

The Queer Wine Fest is set for June 29 at Remy Wines in Dayton. Tickets go on sale June 1.

“I think when you think about Queer Wine Fest and what are you showing up to, first of all, you get to drive out to what I often refer to as the most beautiful place in the world,” Drabkin said, “because really the rolling hills of the Willamette Valley are so gorgeous.”