In addition to making phenomenal wines, Don Lange is also an accomplished folk singer and songwriter who just so happens to keep in touch with many other fine musicians. Because of this, we’ve been fortunate enough to host a few of them over the years for intimate live concerts at Lange Estate.

In April, we welcomed the legendary Peggy Seeger – half-sister of folk revivalist, Pete Seeger; muse for Ewan MacColl’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face;” and master of many instruments: 5-string banjo, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer, autoharp, English concertina and piano. Peggy performed a two-hour set of Anglo-American songs and ballads, traditional songs, and contemporary songs — including a few pointed and humorous numbers on social, political, and environmental issues.

Our Rockstar Winemaker has gotten the hang of making cameo appearances, so in the second set, he and Peggy teamed up for “Here’s to You Rounders” — a Don Lange original. We’ve received many requests for a Don Lange concert, but he’s known to be quite modest about public performances. Lately, your best bet for seeing Don perform is to attend one of our concerts, where he just might pick up a guitar and sing a tune or two.

On June 25th, we hosted Grammy award-winning banjoist, Alison Brown. In an invitation to the concert, Don Lange shared these sentiments:

“We met Alison, her husband and business partner Garry West, and their drummer Larry Atamanuik at the Kokanee Café in Camp Sherman last summer after their show at the Sisters Folk Festival.   We sent a bottle of Lange Three Hills Cuvee Pinot Noir to their table to thank them for the wonderful set they had performed earlier in the day at the festival.  They loved the wine and asked us to join them at their table.  We soon discovered that we had much in common—music, wine, old friends in music, and, not least, spouses doubling as partners in business!  Alison and Garry own and operate CompassRecords, one of the finest independent record labels in America.  Alison toured with Alison Kraus (after graduating with an MBA from UCLA) and has a Grammy to her credit as well as a dozen records.  Larry has a long list of music credentials, including touring and recording with Emmylou Harris.  The quartet is rounded out with keyboard wizard John R. Burr.  These are thoroughly accomplished musicians who also just happen to be fine, intelligent, witty, self-effacing folks.”

Due to weather, we’ve always held our concerts indoors. On this particular day, the forecast was iffy, so Plan A was to hold the concert in our formal tasting room. The day turned out to be gorgeous, so we made a last-minute decision to set up on our beautiful patio/veranda area. In our panoramic vineyard setting (complete with Mount Hood as a backdrop), concert guests enjoyed a lovely musical performance by the Alison Brown Quartet, complimented by fantastic Lange wines.

Stay tuned for future live music performances at Lange Estate Winery. The best way to stay in touch is by joining our mailing list, which you can easily do on the home page of our website. Until next time, happy summer and many cheers!