Civic Winery was an urban, low-intervention project in downtown Eugene, Oregon, built around one idea: ferment and age wine in clay, the way it was done for thousands of years before stainless steel and oak.
Backstory
Craig Weicker founded Civic in 2018, arriving in wine after earlier work in coffee and in affordable housing development. He set up the winery in a historic downtown building close to a century old, envisioning it as a hub for wine, food and community.
The Region
Civic worked in Eugene at the southern end of Oregon's Willamette Valley, drawing fruit from cool-climate vineyards in the surrounding area and from southern Oregon. The model was that of an urban winery sourcing from growers rather than farming a single estate.
Vineyards and Farming
Civic Winery fruit came from organic and sustainably farmed sites, including grapes from grower Nathan Wood as well as Johan Vineyard, Omero Vineyard, Jubilee Vineyard Estate and a biodynamic vineyard in southern Oregon. Native yeast from the vineyard carried out the fermentations.
Winemaking
The defining Civic Winery tool was the clay amphora. Weicker used Oregon-made terra cotta vessels from Andrew Beckham's Novum Ceramics in the Chehalem Mountains, the first commercial maker of winemaking amphorae in North America. Wines fermented and aged in clay with only minimal sulfur, in a deliberately pre-industrial style.
The Wines
Releases spanned pétillant naturels from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, skin-fermented orange wines, a rosé, light reds and amphora-aged reds. The winery has since closed, but its wines marked a distinctive chapter in Oregon's natural wine scene.
