Bringing a big-city sensibility to farm-fresh food, chef Chad Hahn coaxed a full-service restaurant from a cadre of cured meats, cheeses and fine wine.

Small-plate specials at Wooldridge Creek Winery’s Vinfarm rapidly evolved under Hahn’s direction into weekend brunch and, finally, a diverse array of dishes that uphold the do-it-yourself ethic of co-owners Greg Paneitz and Kara Olmo. The couple, nearly two years ago, conceived cheeses and charcuterie handcrafted at their Applegate Valley estate to accompany wine flights at their downtown Grants Pass tasting room.

“We make everything ourselves,” says Olmo. “We’re not paying wholesale for everything.”

That includes all the crackers, condiments and fermented vegetables, which Hahn makes in house, for Vinfarm’s cheese and charcuterie boards. The 38-year-old’s commitment to preparing not only patés, terrines, salami and prosciutto, but their myriad accompaniments “rekindled” Vinfarm owners’ original mission of being food artisans, says Olmo.

“I think we have a really unique set of circumstances,” says Hahn, characterizing Vinfarm, at its most ambitious, as “a fully functional farm with value-added products” and, at the very least, “a really beautiful test kitchen.”

Hahn operated a “process kitchen” at full speed for about a year to meet Vinfarm’s charcuterie needs, plus extra for retail sale at the tasting room and winery. But tables and chairs visible from highly- trafficked G Street sat empty, belying how busy the adjacent tasting room had become.

“We had this dining room space that was lying fallow,” says Hahn. “And we wanted to see people in it.”

Dinner service and extended operating hours debuted last fall. With Hahn’s culinary expertise vetted by urban diners on their side, Olmo and Paneitz decided to be “what people want” — a fully fledged restaurant — rather than remain a tasting room with gourmet nibbles.

“People really want to eat,” says Olmo.

Hahn feeds them in a playful style derived from time spent in both rustic and refined settings. He describes Vinfarm’s ambiance as a bistro serving meals that are “out of people’s normal” when it comes to both ingredient choices and wine pairings.

“A lot of it is driven by produce availability,” says Hahn, who honed his skills with produce at Chicago’s erstwhile vegetarian establishment Green Zebra, owned by James Beard Award winner Shawn McClain.

Without being a slave to seasonality, Hahn highlights Southern Oregon’s freshest fruits and vegetables in the moment and also preserves them for months to come. He pickles spring mushrooms and garlic scapes, ferments daikon radish and a host of other, more common vegetables, and transforms peppers, citrus and herbs into jellies, jams and sauces that fuse flavors from around the globe.

The Chicago native’s experience with Moroccan cuisine is evident in Vinfarm’s ground-beef skewers served with a dipping sauce of preserved lemon. About a dozen flavor profiles, including Wooldridge Creek wines, are incorporated in Vinfarm’s salami. Coriander and ice wine are a light contrast to malbec-infused meat. In case customers aren’t aware of the singularity of Vinfarm’s salami, it’s poised to be the first licensed for retail sale by Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Expending no small effort on “winning the salami game,” Hahn acknowledges that the ways in which Vinfarm is pushing the envelope today will be the norm in a decade. It’s all part of the pioneering spirit of Paneitz and Olmo, among the first winemakers in Southern Oregon to service restaurant accounts with wine in kegs, rather than bottles. The cost savings on packaging, says Olmo, are passed along to customers, who can order a sandwich for $7, salad for $8 and steak for $21.

“Vinfarm is surprisingly affordable.” 

See www.wcv.farm for hours and more information.

©Southern Oregon Wine Scene – from the Spring 2020 issue