DUNDEE — Ask a Portland Timbers fan what they loved about Diego Valeri, and they might say he aged like a fine wine.

That he was creative. Consistent. An ambassador for the city. El Maestro.

Now retired from professional soccer, the 38-year-old former Major League Soccer champion and MVP carries those traits into his new venture: making wine in Oregon’s bountiful Willamette Valley. Valeri seeks to pay homage to his homeland of Argentina and a circle of friends who came together in their new home in the Pacific Northwest.

Valeri, his wife Flor, and close friends Federico and Luci started a wine label together called “ConurWines” last year, with three distinct bottles now available for purchase. The wines were made by Brian Irvine, tasted and tweaked by Valeri and company, with branding and distribution handled in collaboration with the team at Northwest Wine Company.

“This is my first project outside soccer,” Valeri said, seated in a sleek conference room at NW Wine Company’s headquarters in Dundee. “I am learning all the time, and always willing to be taught and guided. They handle the technique part, and we are like kids in a way. Exploring something and having fun. Doing the branding, connecting things to our life and to our family and friendships.”

The three wines include the balanced and mineral “Maté” — a white blend made from local grapes intended to mimic the flavor of the Torrontés grape in Argentina, not the bitter Maté tea which Valeri and many other Argentinians enjoy daily; the “Soté” Oregon Pinot noir, named for Federico and Luci’s dog that passed away; and Valeri’s prized “General” Malbec made with grapes from the Columbia Valley, which features several nods on the label to his soccer career. Dark fruit and spice linger with a dry finish.

Valeri holds the General bottle like his firstborn child, but that’s actually daughter Connie — now 16 and not far off from choosing where to go to college. Sharing that fact inspires Valeri, gray streaks running through his black beard, to take another sip of wine.

The label on the General resembles a ticket to a sporting event. “Admission” is written on the back, along with a story likening the first sip of malbec to the glory of scoring a winning goal. A dog-like character on the front waves a little flag with “ConurWines” inscribed on it.

Along the side, the ticket details: Section 107, Row 15, Seat 8. For the Timbers Army (107IST), the 2015 MLS Cup title and Valeri’s jersey number.

“Obviously, soccer is always involved because many Timbers supporters and people around the game connect with me in that way,” Valeri said. “But this is something totally different. I’m sitting with winemakers, sales managers, people working for supermarkets and grocery stores. It’s a different world and allows me to try and master a different system.”

The reverence Valeri has for malbec wines in particular is evident. He feels it as part of his heritage. Engaged in rousing conversation with friends and collaborators as they meander around the NW Wines processing facility, Valeri often pauses to smell the malbec in his glass with his eyes closed. It seems to get the creative juices flowing, sparking the next idea.

The initial idea to start a wine label came from Flor, however.

“The only alcoholic drink that I like is red wine,” Valeri said. “And so, when I was still playing, I never drank. And when we went to Argentina, I was drinking malbec. Maybe a little champagne at the end of the year in 2015. It was my wife’s idea that we have to make wine here. Oregon has an amazing wine country, and it was an opportunity to give them back the love they have given us since the beginning. I said OK, but I wanted to wait until I retire so we can still be connected to Portland and Oregon people.

“We started talking again about the project last year after we moved back to Portland, and I said we should do it, but something more than just ‘Diego Valeri.’ … We decided together to do something that represents our friendship and our life.”

Valeri hopes to utilize malbec grapes from Argentina for future wines in the label, and has been experimenting with a unique pinot noir and malbec blend with Irvine’s guidance. The Valeris hope to eventually build a tasting room, too, which Valeri said would feature their wine alongside Argentinian cuisine. Grilled meats and empanadas para todos.

Those working for NW Wine Company marveled at Valeri and his team’s consistent involvement at every step of the winemaking process. He is not the only Portland athlete with roots planted in the Oregon wine industry, either: former Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum and his family are building on their Heritage 91 brand after purchasing land in Carlton, having recently completed the first harvest at their vineyard. And one-time Blazers forward Channing Frye started Chosen Family wines with former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love as a business partner.

Valeri has kept himself busy with other ventures since retiring from soccer, primarily bouncing around the country to cover MLS games as a Spanish-language broadcaster for Apple TV. He has interviewed Lionel Messi, called games at Providence Park, and had his name enshrined in the Timbers’ Ring of Honor in an emotional 2023 ceremony at the stadium.

Building out this wine brand is something Valeri could see himself fully committing to, he said, turning a fun project among friends into a new kind of legacy amid the grapevines. And a chance to express himself through something that, like soccer, sits at the intersection of art, science and collaboration.

“That creative part is always there,” Valeri said. “It’s a way for me to explore and learn something. I played soccer since I was a kid, and I started basically being a professional when I was 12 or 13 years old. Until this part of my life, soccer was everything. Obviously, I had outside interests, but it was always something on the side. Now I have time to do stuff. I can go in the vineyard, talk to people who make wine and learn how to do it. It’s key in this part of my life.”