Welcome to the La Bete Wines Website

You should be able to find most information about our wines and winery in this site.
If you have further questions of course, please do not hesitate to contact me.

La Bete Wines is a small, Oregon winery, averaging about 2,000 cases in annual
production currently. If you find that we are a little hard to contact, or that our
website lacks a certain “glitz” it is because we do everything ourselves. I am the
only person who works in the winery, pays the bills, conducts marketing, works with
distributors, etc.

Come harvest time, we rely on interns, volunteers, family and friends to help with
the grape crushing, fermentations, pressing and barreling. A little slice of
Burgundian tradition here in Oregon. My daughter has designed and executed our
website, not a bad accomplishment for a young high school student.

We have one very dedicated and committed (or should he be committed) volunteer who
has worked with us for many years; Tom Reinert our “Capo du Cave”. Tom is
responsible for blending our Selection du Cave each year. My wife, Kay, seems to
keep us all going by having a “real full-time job” as well as functioning as the
final judge regarding wines and wine blends.

La Bete is open to the public during Thanksgiving and Memorial weekends. We are
also open by appointment as well. Our annual Fete de St. Vincent occurs in January
and has become an eagerly awaited event, taking on different formats each year. Our
Cuvee de St. Vincent wines are created each year, a single barrel selection of our
best wine in the cellar. Our celebration is an homage to the Fete de St. Vincent
held each year in Burgundy, France.

Thank you again for visiting our website, we plan to continue to improve and update
it of course. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or inquiries,
and of course with wine orders!

John R. Eliassen,
Owner/Winemaker

John R. Eliassen is the head owner of La bete Wines Inc. He has worked very hard on his wines, taking time to phone his customers, make sure each wine is to it’s greatest taste, while taking care of his oh so darling family. We all wish we could be more like John R. Eliassen. He buys the grapes and sells the wine too. What a man! Cheers to John!

Kay Kusy Eliassen is the wife of John R. Eliassen and has also contributed to La bete wines. She works on opening days, whether it’s cold, or hot, drunk people or not. She sits it out! She is also quite a chatter box. Approach her someday and she’ll tell you her life story. What a TREAT! She has done well, Cheers to Kay!

Paige is the witty and subtle daughter of the 2 wine makers. She sometimes goes to openings, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to meet her! woohoo! She attends Grant HS, and is very happy with her schooling. She’d love it if you’d stop by and have a nice chit chat with her. She’ll be waiting! Cheers to Paige!