Oregon Wine L.A.B.
Our Team
We believe that the key to successful winemaking is teamwork, and we have assembled a team with unmatched experience and passion. Our staff are all share a great enthusiasm and admiration for wine, winemaking, and all that goes along with it!
Owner - Winemaker / mark@williamrosewines.com
Mark Nicholl
Mark has been involved in the wine industry for over 30 years. His ever-developing vinous passion began after falling into the retail side of wine in Sydney, Australia. The passion for wine and winemaking that Mark has today was ignited after a friend gave Mark his first bottle of red wine. Though this bottle was not considered a rare or unique wine, it was enough to set his mind on the path to the what, the where, and the how of this delicious red liquid.
Mark’s thirst and enthusiasm for wine knowledge launched his fine wine retail career and, by the age of 21, he was managing boutique wine shops, conducting wine tastings, and organizing winemaker dinners.
After 25 years, over 30 vintages, and an Honours Degree in Oenology from the prestigious University of Adelaide, Mark has experienced a wide range of both old and new grape-growing and winemaking techniques. He has worked with fruit throughout South Eastern Australia and internationally, Mark has worked in Italy, France, California, Oregon. These experiences, as well as working alongside the industry’s renowned grape-growers and winemakers, have taught Mark one valuable lesson: there is always a new challenge with each harvest!
“My style of winemaking, I guess, is a mélange of New and Old World techniques. My desire is to produce wines whose style and character reflect the style of fruit that the vineyard and season has provided. I am an avid ‘foodie’ and a ‘want-to-be-chef,’ therefore wines that are food friendly are important to me. A style of approachable food-friendly wine that is balanced and cellar-worthy is my goal.”
With the debut of the Oregon Wine LAB (OWL) in 2013, Mark embarked on an exciting new chapter of vinous discovery. Bringing his passion for wine to an urban environment, The LAB is bringing small-batch high-quality artisan winemaking to a new audience through our own William Rose label. Providing an informative, relaxed setting, where people are encouraged to ask all the questions and taste all that the Oregon wine world has to offer!
Michelle Stephenson
Michelle is a musician, a maker, and a mom. Her curiosity about wine began in her childhood. Though wine and it’s surrounding culture was not a part of her family’s traditions growing up, they lived near Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California until she was nine and any trip to the beach or up to the redwoods or just a pretty drive would take them through that land of hilly vineyards and beautiful estates. That landscape was a beautiful mystery to her, a sort of forbidden world that was grand and timeless, rooted and old.
Fast forward 20 years and Michelle was making her way back to Eugene, OR after a seven year “walk about.” She was looking to step out of the music world that had been central to those years away, and into an industry she could learn and grow with and build a career in. Years of hospitality experience brought her through the front door at OWL in the Spring of 2022 and landed her behind the bar with a promise that with Harvest, production work would come.
Michelle thrived in the winery that Fall, with an outlet for her logistics mind, mechanical hands and need for creativity. She is currently our Assistant Winemaker and can be found on most days in the cellar or at Mark’s side, making the moves to bring William Rose Wines to life.
Outside of work Michelle loves to be with her family and outdoors, whether that’s hiking or kayaking, or simply taking the dogs for a walk and watching the sunset over the field near her home. You are likely to find her working on a knitting project or pickin’ out a tune on her banjo whenever time agrees to it.
Michelle loves being part of the Oregon Wine LAB team. Walking vineyards throughout the seasons, watching the fruit grow and learning about the care and needs of the vines, working with those very grapes during Harvest and after, and eventually finishing the wines they will become is an incredible journey and lesson. When she occasionally makes an appearance in the Tasting Room and gets to put that wine in your glass, it is with joy and excitement for what she has shared in the making, and all that is in store. With every vintage, project and bottle she strives to learn to capture the essence of the fruit and its season and create something as timeless as those vineyards of her childhood.
Oregon Wine L.A.B. | Wine Jobs Oregon
