Celebrating Twenty Vintages
A unique, beautiful vineyard in Oregon's Chehalem Mountains.
In Memoriam
Warren Dayle “Nick” Nicholas
April 22, 1940 – January 2, 2026
Nick was born at the Buchanan Hospital in Lodi, California, the eldest son of Warren and Hilda (Woehl) Nicholas. His first home was a 30-acre ranch two miles from Victor where he milked the cows before and after school, and his first job was nearby at Alpine Victor Brands manufacturing hot dogs. As a teenager, he excelled in track, football and 4-H, graduating from Lodi Union High in 1958. He became the first in his family to attend college, graduating with a degree in Business from San Jose State in 1963.
His first career took him to Los Angeles and the Watts neighborhood where he supervised a team of food processors while caught up in the infamous riots, then on to work in Real Estate where he proudly wore a golden blazer. He joined The Kendall Company, a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive, and moved to the UK in 1978 as the European Marketing Manager, playing as much golf as he could across England and Scotland. It was in London that he met Sheila Macrae and they were married in Cambridge Massachusetts on Memorial Day, 1981.
In 1983, Nick and Sheila moved west to join two Californian fraternity brothers in the pizza business, eventually purchasing a family-style restaurant in the Napa Valley where they worked side-by-side. Trading pizzas for wine, they acquired an enviable cellar which led to a quest for vineyard property of their own. In 2001, opportunity, the wine community, a sense of adventure and the draw of Pinot Noir enticed them to Oregon’s Willamette Valley where they settled on a 70-acre overgrown orchard in the hills above Newberg.
The family lived in the property’s original crumbling farmhouse and stored their Napa cabernets in the root cellar. Over time, they cleared the ancient fruit trees and planted 30 acres to Pinot Noir with a small acre each of Riesling and Gewurztraminer. Nick wasted no time learning to drive a tractor and spent countless hours tending his vines: seeding the cover crop, mowing, mulching and thinking.
Nick and Sheila created and bottled Nicholas Estate wines under their Anam Cara Cellars label, taking inspiration for the name from the book “Anam Cara, a book of Celtic Wisdom” by John O’Donohue and its message of connection between bonded souls, time and place. Their first consultant winemaker was the late Aron Hess of Daedalus, and their first vineyard consultant was Buddy Beck of AVS. Michael Collier of 12th and Maple Wine Company in Dundee succeeded Aron as winemaker and continued Nick’s dream of making wines that were true to the vineyard. The insights and expertise shared by Aron, Michael and Buddy taught Nick the rhythm of the vineyard and a deep respect for the wines it produced.
Nick loved to share the fruit of his labors, hosting Wine Club events, tastings, wine dinners, travelling across the US and to export markets such as Canada and China to spread the word about Oregon wines. He particularly enjoyed spending time with Club members, many of whom became good friends over the years.
At age 75, Nick stepped back from the tractor and sold a large part of the property to Rain Dance which continues to farm it to organic standards. For three vintages, he purchased grapes from the renamed Grand Oak Vineyard while promptly planting additional Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling on his remaining five acres to continue the Estate wines for Anam Cara.
Nick will be remembered for his extra-dry Martinis, direct and honest personality, deep and enduring love for his family, his story telling, tenacity and for never taking the easy route with his ventures.
He passed peacefully after a long illness with his family by his side and is survived by Sheila, his wife of 45 years, daughter Heather Guzman (Richard) and son Mark; brothers Darvin (Susan) and Roger (Brenda) in Lodi along with terrific nieces and nephews: Nichelle Bartlett (Jason), Jordan Kerber (Lydia), Megan Kerber, Jesse Nicholas, Scott Nicholas, Julia Minori (George), Caitlin Helyer, Catherine Macrae, Colleen Macrae, Sally Cottrell (Tim), Jonathan Malcolm (Kirsty), Ashlyn Lauchland (Cole) and Shelby Macias (Arnoldo).
In May of this year, he would have become a Grandpa for the first time.
Celebrations of Life are planned in his birth town of Lodi for Friday, February 20, 1:00-3:00 at GracePoint Church; and in the Willamette Valley at a later date to be announced shortly. Details will be posted here as they are available.
In Nick’s memory, donations are suggested to the Rotary Club of Newberg Early Birds. Link Here
Thank you for reading this very short account of Nick’s life story. Please leave a remembrance as we would enjoy hearing from you email here.
Kindly note that our Newberg tasting room is now closed.
Nick and Sheila Nicholas made wines from the grapes they first planted on Nicholas Estate Vineyard. Over time, they adapted their organic farming practices to reflect the rhythm of the vines and fine-tuned their wine making to reflect this unique part of the Willamette Valley.
After more than 20 years, they stepped back from winemaking to focus on the vineyard.
