Chef DJ MacIntyre steps into a broader role at Oregon winery with ambitious plans to regenerate national sales through wine and culinary programs
February 27, 2025 (Salem Hills, OR) — It’s easy to lose track of time while talking to Chef DJ MacIntyre as his effusive personality takes you on a journey of epicurean delights where wine, hospitality and the abundance of fresh fare from the Pacific Northwest all meet. Serving as Executive Winery Chef for a decade at Willamette Valley Vineyards (NASDAQ: WVVI, WVVIP), MacIntyre has devoted his career at Willamette to creating excellent culinary experiences that pair with some of the region’s best Pinot Noirs. In his new role as Wine & Culinary Director, MacIntyre aims to elevate the Willamette experience for all wine and food enthusiasts.
Growing up in Montana, MacIntyre’s youth was spent foraging and feasting with family, often enjoying wild game and fresh-caught fish. Like many professional chefs, memories were made around the fire and in the kitchen, and his love of food grew as his palate expanded.
While studying at the University of Oregon, MacIntyre began his culinary career in Eugene, getting his first big break moving north to Seattle to take the role of chef de cuisine at Chef John Howie’s SPORT Restaurant & Bar located across from the Space Needle, and later at the acclaimed Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar which he helped Chef Howie open in 2009. He has been named “Best Chef” several times in the Best of Mid-Valley awards at the Statesman Journal.
In his expanded role, MacIntyre will continue to oversee all five chefs at tasting room and restaurant locations, including the Estate in the Salem Hills, sparkling winery Domaine Willamette in the Dundee Hills and Tasting Room & Restaurants in Lake Oswego, Vancouver, Happy Valley and Bend. “I’ve got a great team of chefs and sous chefs and I get to teach them more now while encouraging their creativity,” he said. This allows him to tap into his creativity “and do test kitchen work while teaching the younger generation of chefs and taking ideas that I’ve had combining with theirs, ensuring the ideas fit within the brand.”
Although he’ll be less hands-on in the kitchen than before, he’ll be helming the kitchens in Willamette’s push for elevating the brand, as well as meeting vendors, hosting dinners in different locations, home events and performing cooking demonstrations.
MacIntyre says bringing others joy through local, sustainable foods first led him to Willamette Valley Vineyards in 2015, and he has since become passionate about developing wine and culinary experiences around Oregon’s blossoming truffle industry. Having just come off a two-night dinner run making food for 160 with the Oregon Truffle Festival, truffles bridge the aromatics and the phenolic experiences in wine, which some even liken to heightening euphoria.
MacIntyre believes the delicacy of Oregon truffles can be celebrated all year, not just February, declared Oregon Truffle Month in 2024 and 2025 by Governor Tina Kotek.
“Oregon is home to a variety of truffles that are equal in quality to their European counterparts,” he said. Oregon’s four main truffle varieties are the Oregon Winter White Truffle, Oregon Spring White Truffle, Oregon Black Truffle, and Oregon Brown Truffle, which are harvested from November until late spring. “Some can be harvested into spring or even until the weather warms up, which can be as late as May,” he said.
With freshly foraged truffles “normally lasting about a week,” MacIntyre offers a few methods of saving the aromatics of truffles harvested in the winter for use in the summer by following a few techniques.
First, truffles can be refrigerated for about two weeks by adding fat into the equation. “Anything with fats such as butter, egg whites, egg yolks, cream, cheese, even nuts – the aroma goes right through and absorbs the flavors and that fun, funky truffle smell,” he said.
Another method of extending the life of truffles is by micro-planing or cutting thin slices of the truffle into butter and placing them in several small containers in the freezer. “And then you’ve got truffle butter all year round,” he says.
If you envision grilling a truffled steak in the summer, MacIntyre suggests vacuum-sealing steaks ahead of time while adding truffle butter into the bag before placing them in the freezer. “That way, in the middle of summer, people can enjoy a steak that’s been carrying the aroma of that truffle since winter.”
You can read more about MacIntyre and Willamette Valley Vineyards here, or contact the Estate team for private dining inquiries, culinary demonstrations and more.
About Willamette Valley Vineyards
Founded in 1983 by President Jim Bernau with the dream of creating world-class Pinot Noir while serving as stewards of the land, Willamette Valley Vineyards has grown from a bold idea into one of the region’s leading wineries, earning the title “One of America’s Great Pinot Noir Producers” from Wine Enthusiast Magazine. In addition, all the vineyards have been certified sustainable through LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon-Safe programs. With 1,000 acres under vine, Willamette farms its Estate winery in the Salem Hills, sparkling winery Domaine Willamette in the Dundee Hills, pioneering Tualatin Estate Vineyard near Forest Grove and Elton Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. The winery has expanded recently to include 10 tasting rooms in Oregon, Washington and California – growth made possible by the stock ownership of many wine enthusiasts.
