CO-FOUNDER, LA FAMILIA CIDER COMPANY

José Gonzalez was only 10 years old when his family settled in the Willamette Valley and he started picking strawberries. His mother, Lourdes, would prepare fruity Mexican aguas frescas to keep him cool on those hot summer afternoons. Fast forward two decades, and Gonzalez and his wife, Shani, decided to try infusing their favorite aguas frescas flavors into the Oregon craft ciders they loved so much.

“I called my mom and asked her to make some of her fresh juices for us,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t know how the flavors would mix with the apple base of a cider, but after the first sip, I knew we were on to something.”

Today, family-owned and run La Familia Cider Company produces award-winning handcrafted ciders infused with fresh, traditional juices such as tamarindo, jamaica and guayaba. Because Gonzalez takes a juice-first approach to his cider-making process, each sip of La Familia Cider is noticeably fruit-forward. Stop by the downtown Salem taproom and enjoy a frosty La Familia cider on tap. You’ll surely want to take a few cans home with you.

OWNER, ANDANTE VINEYARDS

While most winemakers start off knowing that they want to grow grapes and searching for the land on which to do it, Saul and her husband fell in love with 42 acres in Dallas, in the Willamette Valley’s Van Duzer Corridor just east of Salem, and they let the land tell them what it wanted to be.

“The area hadn’t been used for growing the usual crops like wheat because the soil was so shallow and the terrain so hilly,” Saul said. “But it was perfectly suitable for growing grapevines, so we did its bidding.”

Saul and her husband started by growing grapes and selling the fruit to outside winemakers, but once they started making their own wine and realized how much they loved the process, Andante Vineyards was born. They built the winery and tasting room and added a full-time winemaker who produces the vineyard’s spectacular Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and other varieties. “Everything is grown and produced on our land,” Saul said. “It’s an old-world approach to making wine and it works beautifully.” Stop by the tasting room for a flight, chef-prepared food pairings, and a few gift bottles of top-notch estate wine.

OWNER, MOUNT ANGEL SAUSAGE COMPANY

When Hoke and his family started making and selling sausage ropes at Salem’s Saturday market in 1999, he never dreamed he’d one day have a buzzy Bavarian restaurant, two German beer gardens and a European market that served everything from handcrafted brats and Munich pretzels to packaged knockwurst and Polish kielbasa ropes.

“My son was interested in making sausage when he was just 12 years old and we decided to go into the food business together,” Hoke said. “I had these amazing sausage recipes and we started selling our ropes at events, but we couldn’t keep up with customer demand.”

Hoke found a production space in the Bavarian-inspired town of Mount Angel and, while he intended for the space to let him make more sausage, it quickly blossomed into a full-on retail space where customers could buy sausages, family meals, German mustard and more. Next, Hoke added a kitchen and restaurant menu filled with wursts, reubens and Fricadelwurst burgers, beer gardens, and a lounge that hosts live music. Hoke’s son still makes the company’s authentic German sausages and customers come from all over to both dine in — and stock up. Stop by the restaurant, located about 30 minutes northeast of Salem, for a bite and a brew, and pick up packaged bratwurst and currywurst for every sausage-lover on your list.

Whether you’re sipping tamarindo cider in downtown Salem, swirling estate Pinot Noir in nearby Dallas, or biting into a bratwurst in Mount Angel, these local tastemakers prove that fresh and local foods in Salem, Oregon are worth seeking out. Build a day of tasting around their stories, then bring a little of Salem home with cans of cider, bottles of wine and packaged sausages that make easy holiday gifts. Make a weekend of it and savor the flavors that make the Salem region so delicious.

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