the duo
hey, there!
We’re Jessica and Paden West, a winemaking couple that has over 20 years combined experience in the Oregon wine industry.
We’ve spent years focused on serious Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. That foundation still stands. We just decided to widen the aperture, and to do it for ourselves. Curiosity didn’t replace discipline, it sharpened it. Now we make wines built on precision, with room for play when it matters.
Approachment is our excuse to unleash our creative and experimental side together as winemakers but also as partners and best friends. We are excited to make energetic, creative, thought provoking, and approachable wines in limited production.
Here are the bite sized versions…
Jessica began her journey in wine shops and tasting rooms, where she learned an early truth: wine only matters if someone wants to drink it. You can nerd out all day, but if the wine doesn’t resonate, none of it matters..
In 2013, she moved into the cellar at Bethel Heights, working with Ben and Mimi Casteel. That season clarified the direction. The physical work. The repetition. The discipline of small decisions made over long timelines. Wine made more sense when it was shaped by process instead of language, when the work spoke first.
She formalized that shift through the NW Wine Studies program, earning a degree in Winemaking and committing to a philosophy rooted in intent. Every choice leaves a fingerprint. The job is not to force a style, but to recognize what the wine is capable of and not interfere unnecessarily.
Today, Jessica works across both ends of the process. She makes wines under Approachment with a focus on limited production and deliberate releases, and she also works with growers and brands through custom winemaking, taking projects from fruit to bottle, managing fermentations, élevage, and finishing decisions alongside the people who own the fruit. The work is collaborative, hands on, and very fulfilling. It allows her to work with many different vineyard sites.
Across both roles, the philosophy is the same: wine should have a point of view, a sense of timing, and a reason to exist beyond filling space on a shelf. If a wine is ready, it moves. If it isn’t, it waits.
The goal is simple. Make something worth opening. Release it with intention. Trust the right people will find it.
Paden grew up in the Willamette Valley and came into wine the same way many people do, through tasting rooms, where you learn very quickly that none of this matters if the wine doesn’t sell. Before barrels and fermentations, there was the most essential lesson of the business: someone has to want it.
In 2010, he was offered an internship at Penner-Ash, working under Lynn Penner-Ash alongside Assistant Winemaker Brian Irvine. That experience flipped the switch, and Paden got the bug for production.
Once that fire caught, Paden enrolled in the NW Wine Studies program to move fully into production. Somewhere between lab samples and shared (copied) assignments, his lab partner turned out to be Jessica.
In 2016, Paden began working with Isabelle Meunier, where Chardonnay stopped being just a variety and became an obsession. Immersion in some of Oregon’s most precise and demanding Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sharpened his instincts and permanently raised his standards. And it shows in his wines.
By 2022, Paden stepped into the role of Head Winemaker at Benza Vineyard, where that obsession deepened. Chardonnay remains the anchor, Pinot Noir the constant companion, and sparkling wine an ongoing pursuit. All explored with the same patience and precision, and now alongside Jessica.
Together, they share a philosophy shaped by curiosity, intention, and a healthy skepticism of shortcuts.
Once Paden and Jessica were newly married and outfitted with their Oenology and Viticulture degrees, the two moved to McMinnville to be in the heart of Oregon’s wine country.
Once Paden and Jessica were newly married and outfitted with their Oenology and Viticulture degrees, the two moved to McMinnville to be in the heart of Oregon’s wine country.
Current & future
Current & future
Jessica
For over a decade, Jessica served as co-Winemaker at Harper Voit, where she helped craft some of the Willamette Valley’s most thoughtful small-production wines for clients like Eminent Domaine, Five Fourteen Vineyards, and Moffett Vineyards. In 2025, she stepped away to focus fully on Approachment Wines—where they focus on precision, creativity, and a whole lot of heart.
Paden
After graduating, Paden was offered an Assistant Winemaker position for highly acclaimed winemaker Isabelle Muenier of LAVINEA at the Carlton Winemaker’s Studio, managed by Anthony King - now both mentors. After 6 years, Paden accepted the Winemaker position at Failla Oregon, working with Ehren Jordan. Now Paden is head Winemaker at Benza Vineyards, crafting Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Sparkling wines in the Laurelwood District, AVA.
The Duo
With Jessica and Paden achieving their respective winemaker positions, Paden strongly feels:
“You don’t get to a position you love, unless you do it with the person you love”.
Approachment is now the continuation of each career path combined into a joint expression of Jessica and Paden’s combined talents, skill sets, palates, and creative outbursts.
They may or may not occasionally get into a heated disagreement when it comes to blending…
What does the future hold? Well…. we’ll just have to find out together.
