TROUTDALE, Ore. — The former 1911 Multnomah County Poor Farm is now the center of McMenamins’ bustling wine production at Edgefield. It is an apt place for winemaker Davis Palmer — not because he was destitute when he arrived at McMenamins Edgefield in 1995, but because he arrived with a passion for beer, and found an unexpected refuge in winemaking.

Palmer had been a homebrewer with intentions to work for a brewery when he took a job as a line cook at Edgefield. Eventually, he worked his way into the brewery. At Edgefield, the center of McMenamins’ beer, wine, cider and distilling production, Palmer expanded his passion for beer to winemaking.

“At a winery, you can make the product from the ground up,” he said. Unlike brewing, where the brewer may not have a hand in growing the grain or the hops, Palmer said he can work directly with the winegrapes as they grow. McMenamins grows about 7 acres of winegrapes for its estate wines at Edgefield but purchases grapes from vineyards in the Willamette, Columbia and Walla Walla valleys to produce approximately 35,000 cases per year.

In a marketing program as unique as its dedication to restoring historic locations, all of McMenamins’ wines are sold at the company’s 70 resorts, hotels and neighborhood pubs. The same goes for its beer, cider and distilled products.

Wine and beer have always been at the center of the attraction to McMenamins, but cider and distilled spirits production have expanded over the years.

For example, the company anticipates selling 100,000 gallons of cider this year.

Born in Salt Lake City to a pioneer Utah family, Palmer moved to Portland for college and never looked back.

“Salt Lake City is not really the center of breweries or wineries,” Palmer said. “I came to Oregon to get out of the desert, but also to pursue an interest in brewing.”

He quickly discovered he wasn’t the only mid-1990s homebrewer with dreams of working in a Northwest brewery, so competition in Portland was tough, he said.

McMenamins, however, had a program that allowed him to start at the bottom and work his way up. After working in food preparation and in the brewery, he helped with winegrape harvests and punch-downs and then took a cellar position in the winery in 2001.

By 2004, he was a winemaker, trained by Clark McCool and the late Kevin McCarver. In addition, he began learning from the growers and owners of the vineyard with which McMenamins contracts.

“They were all great mentors,” he said.

In Edgefield’s vineyard, planted to Pinot gris, Gewurztraminer and Syrah, Palmer and other staff help with pruning, shoot management and other field duties, in addition to cellar and fermentation work. As a result of the pandemic, McMenamins’ uniquely Northwestern tourism fixtures were hit hard, but they are bouncing back quickly, Palmer said.

The hit has also impacted staff. To maintain production, about 16 staff at McMenamins work at a variety of jobs to produce wine, beer, ciders, distilled spirits and other potables. Multiple assignments keep the work interesting, and the staff employed year-round. Every three weeks, a new round of fermentation and production begins as fresh juice is brought in for the cidery.

Distribution, a complex matter for most wineries, is more straightforward at McMenamins. They own the trucks that deliver their products directly to their outlets.

Palmer said that the word is getting out that McMenamins is not just a place for good beer.

“We’re making bigger wines. We try to keep things fresh and moving, to make the things that people want, and promote them,” he said.