A 5.4-acre vineyard just north of the Bend city limits has divided the small community surrounding it by seeking county approval to operate a tasting room.

Lava Terrace Cellars LLC, which operates on land zoned multiuse agricultural, needs a conditional use permit before it can host private tastings. The 15-home community off Hunnell Road and Bowery Lane is divided about the idea: nine opposed and five in favor.

A tasting room is a compatible use for land zoned for agricultural use, but the vineyard is located in a community governed by a homeowners association that owns the private one-lane road through the area.

The concern by neighbors is that in Oregon, wineries may only be located on land zoned exclusive farm use and be a minimum of 15 acres, but Lava Terrace Cellars meets neither requirement.

In the most recent action on the vineyard’s request, the Deschutes County Commission agreed to let the owners of Lava Terrace Cellars add more information to its application before a decision is made if it can host commercial activities on its property.

Winery origins

When Duane and Dina Barker, the owners of Lava Terrace Cellars, started their vineyard in 2012, they intended to grow grapes and make wine for themselves. But in 2020 they realized there might be a market for wine produced in Deschutes County.

Their first crop was in 2017, and they shipped their grapes to a winery in Medford, said Duane Barker. The couple launched its wine label in 2020, just at the start of the pandemic. As the pandemic waned, the vineyard held tastings at local retailers, he said.

“It became apparent that when the public was able to taste our wines, they loved them and would purchase bottles for home consumption,” Duane Barker said. “The question came up more and more: Do you have a tasting room?

“We already have the buildings, the vineyard and now have the transportation to our property solved being only 400 feet from the newly paved Hunnell Road.”

Last year the winery produced 700 cases of wine, said Dina Barker. It plans to make a maximum of 2,000 cases of wine a year, Duane Barker said.

“What we want to do is a small tasting room, maybe six to eight people at a time at the vineyard, by appointment only during the growing season — May to the end of September,” said Dina Barker. “Our intention is to have customers come out and experience the wine, see the vineyard. It’s a personal experience at the vineyard.”

The vineyard can be accessed via a one-lane road from either U.S. Highway 97 or from Hunnell Road.

Commercial activity

The vineyard has an Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission license to sell alcohol on premises that expires Sept. 30, according to public records.

The vineyard does not produce wine on the site yet, Duane Barker said. At some point, the couple would like to produce the wine on site to reduce the carbon footprint of having to transfer the grapes to another production site, she said.

“The grapes will never have to leave property,” she said. “The goal is to create (an) estate winery situation. It’s very low impact.”

Toby Bayard, who filed an appeal against the winery’s conditional use permit request, feels that commercial activity will permanently alter the tenor of the community.

“We have a neighborhood here with a community association that dates back to 1966,” Bayard said. “We own the road and we’ll have people drinking on our road.”

The opposition has created tension in the community, Bayard said.

“This neighborhood was beautiful and peaceful and we took care of each other,” Bayard said. “Now that’s all gone.”