White Salmon Monthly Giveaway – Soča Wine Shop
It’s December, and you know what that means?! Time for another Explore White Salmon GIVEAWAY!! We are entering our fifth month already and happy to share that our December giveaway will be Soča Wine Shop, who will be offering a $100 gift certificate! Congratulations to our November winner, Alison Hamerstadt!
We hope you are enjoying our giveaways as much as we are–it has been a lot of fun talking with our local small business owners and learning more about them and what they do! We are so fortunate to live in a place where there is so much diversity for such a small town–from our unique gift shops, the amazing food, wine and craft brew, not to mention the myriad of artists and wellness professionals!
Our Explore White Salmon website and social media pages, focuses on our immediate and nearby surrounding communities to promote and spotlight these small businesses, while striving toward an emphasis on sustainable tourism. We always do our best to keep you updated and in the know, on upcoming events and happenings in and around White Salmon!
HOW IT WORKS
At the beginning of each month, we will partner with a local business in Downtown White Salmon. Each business owner will decide what they would like to donate. We will then highlight the details on our Instagram and Facebook pages.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
1: Follow @explorewhitesalmon on Instagram
2: Like the post
3: Tag your friends in the comment section
(more comments/tags = more entries!)
The last entry will be the last day of the month. One winner will be randomly selected and
notified on the 1st of the month and will be notified via our Instagram stories.
Now on to our December giveaway, coming to you from the folks behind Soca Wine Shop, who
will be celebrating its one year anniversary on December 17th!
WHAT YOU WILL WIN
A $100 Gift Card to use toward food, glass pours and/or bottle sales!
We hung out with Bethany Kimmel, one of the owners of Soča, a wine bar and retail shop, all rolled into one, featuring wine by the glass, small, seasonal bites and an extensive collection of wines from around the world to enjoy onsite or take home. Bethany is the winemaker for Color Collector wines and a veteran of E&R Wine Shop in Portland, and she founded Soča with Jure Poberaj and Nina Jimenez of Poberaj Wines and formerly of the White Salmon Baking Company. Together they bring their expertise on winemaking, food service and hospitality to this very special place.
We asked a few questions about starting and running a business here in White Salmon..
Explore White Salmon:
Tell us a little bit about the inception of Soča Wine Shop..
Soča Wine Shop:
I had long dreamt of creating a community space for people to gather and share inspiring wines when Jure and Nina approached me about a collaboration. We got to work and began the renovation of an old office building that had been sitting vacant for years.
EWS:
How did you decide on a name for your space?
SWS:
Soča (pronounced so-cha) is the river on the border of Northeastern Italy and Western Slovenia, where Jure grew up and learned to kayak–a sport that brought him to the
Columbia River Gorge.
EWS:
What has been the most challenging aspect of owning a small wine business here in
White Salmon?
SWS:
All of our distributors are located in larger cities, so it takes an extra effort to maintain the support networks necessary to keep exciting bottles on the shelves and serve delicious, inspiring wines by the glass.
EWS:
What has been the most rewarding?
SWS:
I think my favorite moments are when the old single pane windows fog up on these chilly winter evenings, and people gathered here, whether strangers or friends, are all talking to each other, enjoying the energy of the space and of being together with wine and food. It’s just a beautiful thing to be part of.
EWS:
Describe the most fun part of what you do?
SWS:
It’s often overwhelming to look at shelves full of hundreds of wines with lots of foreign words on their labels, but it’s fun to help people navigate the selection and discover something they love. My favorite part of running the shop is serving as a resource to make wine more accessible and help connect people with wines that will satisfy their interests and fuel their curiosity.
EWS:
Tell us about your vision for the future of Soča?
SWS:
In the near future, we are so excited to build a small ‘tasting group’ or wine club for Soča. One that will be fully customizable and very intentional. We want to serve our local community and give people a lot of choice in terms of which wines they invite home to their table. Some may want to stick to what they know and love, while others may choose to ‘spread their wings’ and try new styles of wines they may not be familiar with. It will be really fun!
We think Soča Wine Shop is the perfect addition to our community!!
