B
eginning as a Christmas
tree farm, Airlie Winery was
founded in 1986 as the tree
farming industry began to fade.
Mary Olsen, owner of Airlie Win-
ery, is a native of Wisconsin and
transferred to Oregon will work-
ing for US West telephone com-
pany. Just like many Oregonians,
she enjoyed going to the winer-
ies on the weekends. She liked
it so much, so joked that in her
“next life” she would buy a winery.
After a few years, she was pro-
moted to US West main office and
moved away from Oregon. How-
ever, in 1987, when it was time to
leave her job with the phone com-
pany, she decided to move back
to Oregon and make good on her
promise and purchased the Air-
lie Winery already established.
Airlie’s winemaker Elizabeth Clark
likes to joke that she moved to
Oregon on a fluke. “In 1999, I was
the wedding guest that never
left” she explains, “and finally my
hosts passed me off on a friend
who was driving to Oregon. Hav-
ing never visited and knowing that
my cousin was living in Portland I
decided to hitch a ride. I’m so glad
I did. After spending the summer
exploring the area I fell in love
with Oregon and the winemaking
community and haven’t left since.”
After moving there and get-
ting a job at a catering company,
she became interested in wine
and the winemaking process
so much she approached a lo-
cal winemaker to teach her. After
five years of mentoring, Elizabeth
joined Airlie as their winemaker.
Mary used the years of business
experience she gained working at
the phone company to build up
the business as her own. Having
always been a hard worker, she
took to entrepreneurship quite
easily. She’s proud of the fact that
her employees at the vineyard
have worked with her for years
and doesn’t take the responsibili-
ty of other people’s families rely-
ing on her and her business lightly.
Airlie is a proud women owned
and operated business because
women, in general, have not have
the same advantages as men.
Mary hasn’t let this stop her in
her career and was the first fe-
male Vice President of a techni-
cal department at US West. She
brings that same empowerment
to the winery. When applying for
her farm loan to acquire the win-
ery, she encountered a certain
amount of disbelief that she, as a
woman, could be successful sim-
ply because not many women
were trying to purchase farms at
the time. But, she got the loan and
over the years has found that be-
ing a women in business has more
advantages than disadvantages.
When it comes to being a wom-
en in business, Elizabeth agrees
women can use their gender as
a tool but doesn’t think it should
define the quality of their work.
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