Friday, Jul. 09, 2010

A somber day at Abacela

By Eric Degerman, Wine Press Northwest managing editor

For animal lovers, one of the joys of Northwest wine touring is meeting the winery pets.

They often are an extension of the family and serve as ambassadors for the winery.

Such has been the case with Rastus at Abacela in Oregon's Umpqua Valley.

Each morning, the beloved yellow Lab wandered down from his doghouse to camp out in front of the Roseburg tasting room. There he would greet guests and wiggle his tail-less rump in search of a stroke on the head, a hug or, better yet, a treat.

Each afternoon, at the close of business — like punching a time clock — he'd lumber up the steep hill to the Jones home, stretch out on the law and lord over the his domain. His deep bark alerted the family to the arrival of guests and kept cougars away.

Sadly, co-proprietor Hilda Jones noted this morning that Rastus passed away during the night.

"He had been sick and was going downhill fast,"she said. "He lived a long and wonderful life and that is what we need to remember. We will be posting a tribute to him on our website and facebook today."

Rastus achieved icon status as the only dog depicted within the pages of The Herbfarm's beautiful, leather-bound wine list.

And my visits to Abacela never will be quite the same.