– Stirling Fox –
Stirling has been working professionally in the Oregon wine industry since 1989. He majored in Food & Wine Science at OSU but the vineyards became his true calling and by 1997 he was hired as the Executive Vineyard Manager for Willamette Valley Vineyards in Salem managing 300 acres of estate properties and coordinating fruit purchasing all over Oregon.
In the spring of 2000, Stirling moved on to a position as the vineyard manager for Rex Hill and the General Manger of Rex Hills sister company Oregon Grape Management. In this role he worked with many vineyard owners throughout the Willamette Valley and honed his talents for custom winegrowing. In 2007 Stirling started his eponymously named company Stirling Wine Grapes (S.W.I.G.) to offer custom farming services throughout the northern Willamette Valley.
In 2008, Stirling and his wife Kelly Kidneigh teamed up to create their own boutique label, Mad Violets Wine Company, totaling 1400 cases annually. Daughters Madeline and Violet were an inspiration for the brand name evoking images of whimsical native wild flowers and questionable sanity for starting our own wine label.
Commitment and passion are evident when the fruit is delivered at harvest each year. S.W.I.G is well known for meticulously farmed sites where optimal ripeness is the goal and beautiful cool climate wines are the result. From soil to bottle we stay on the throttle.
