Camerons uncork new glass factory at Kalama
Story and photos by Steve Brock

A new glass factory will soon be producing quality, high-end bottles to fill the needs of West Coast wineries. The story of how the Kalama, Washington plant came into being involves Coca Cola, Washington’s governor, the 2006 Superbowl and a Pennsylvania family.

92 new jobs
The Cameron Family Glass Packaging Plant, located at the Port of Kalama on the Columbia River, will provide 92 family-wage jobs and produce about 5 percent of the bottles used by the West Coast wine industry. CEO Jim Cameron, 50, said the company’s “green” manufacturing technologies will produce no wastewater and no emissions. Fired by hydro and wind power, the plant will be virtually carbon neutral. The Cameron family may use new methods, but the business of bottles is an old friend of theirs.

Originally of Washington, Pennsylvania, the Cameron family started bottling Coca Cola shortly after that icon of Americana was first introduced.
“I was a fourth generation Cameron in the business,” said Jim Cameron. Founded in 1889 by his great-grandfather, the company endured for 109 years. “There were 11 of us in the business when we sold in January of 1999. At that time we were the ninth largest Coca Cola bottler in the country.” The company had remained small until the late 1960s, when several acquisitions built it up, capped by the addition of Pittsburgh Coca Cola in 1983.

The real thing
“It’s (Pittsburgh Coca Cola) the one that put us over the top,” Cameron recalled. “We went from servicing 300,000 to 3.2 million in six months.”
In the late 1990’s, Coca Cola Enterprises, a subsidiary of Coca Cola, was buying many independent Coca Cola bottlers and made an attractive offer to the Camerons. It came at a good time because of family dynamics, Jim Cameron recalled.  A transition to the fifth generation might have been difficult, had the family retained ownership. 

 “I have four kids; some of my cousins had no kids and that makes the transition a difficult one,” Cameron said. “The opportunity (to sell) arose and we took advantage of it.”

After the sale, family members “kind of all went our own ways,” Cameron said, many of them investing in and operating other businesses. When his uncle and aunt, Don and Sally Cameron, got the idea of developing a glass plant to service the West Coast wine industry, the family was destined to come together again. But it would take a few more years to “uncork” the project.

During Superbowl XL (February 2006, Detroit, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks), a friend of the Camerons mentioned to Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, who was also in attendance at the game, that the family was planning a new glass plant and was considering locating it in Oregon.

It’s the governor calling
“The next Monday, she (Gov. Gregoire) called and said, ‘We want you in the state of Washington,’ and she made it happen,” Jim Cameron said.

“She was very aggressive and very helpful through the process. From here, all the way down to the local officials it’s been a very positive relationship.”

Don Cameron is the primary partner, along with other family members, including his brother, Dick Cameron (Jim Cameron’s father). ”My brother Steve and I are investors, as well,”Jim Cameron explained, “and now it is a family business.” 

Favorable power rates
The company chose Kalama for the “energy opportunity”and because “there were quality people here that were underemployed,” Cameron said. “We found some really talented local people.” 

A bevy of bottles
The 175,000-square foot plant, financed to the tune of $109 million and the first new wine bottle plant built in the United States in the last 30 years, will produce 10–15 different styles of wine bottles. Cameron declined to state a figure, but previous reports have put the projected annual production at more than 100 million bottles.  Rail cars will deliver raw materials to the facility and trucks will deliver the finished product to West Coast wineries.  

The Cameron Family is banking that superior quality, competitively-priced  wine bottles produced in an eco-friendly manner — with an emphasis on customer service — will appeal to the more than 500 wineries located in Washington, as well as wineries in Oregon and California. 
And who knows? Maybe that Oregon pinot noir that finds it way to your Thanksgiving table this year will be poured from a made-in-Kalama Cameron Family bottle. Cheers!

Steve Brock is a California transplant who enjoys reading, camping, hiking and writing. He works for Cowlitz County PUD and lives in Longview. He is looking forward to sipping wine poured from Cameron Family bottles.

I love dinner parties. A gathering of friends sharing food and bearing gifts is a rich tradition with primitive roots. The menu is thoughtfully prepared, often from special recipes. The guest list brings interesting people together for lively conversation.
Hosting dinner parties is a natural by-product of writing this column. And I enjoy it. I need guinea pigs. But when I’m invited to someone else’s home for dinner, especially if I don’t have to put on an apron, I’m delighted.   

Recently, Kelso area residents Suzanne and Bob Martinson hosted a dinner party in their home celebrating the publication of Suzanne’s book, The Fallingwater Cookbook. She has written for Columbia River Reader and was features editor for The Daily News (in Longview, Wash.) for seven years before moving to Pittsburgh. The Martinsons retired and returned to the Pacific Northwest three years ago.

The Fallingwater Cookbook
The book is a collection of recipes of Elsie Henderson, who was for 15 years the cook and baker at Fallingwater, considered the most famous and architecturally significant private house ever built in America. Pittsburgh retail mogul Edgar J. Kaufmann and his wife commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design it for their summer home. 

In the Allegheny Mountains
Located near Mill Run, Pennsylvania,  Fallingwater was a welcome retreat for the Kaufmanns’ family and friends, including famous writers, painters, opera singers, industrialists and politicians. Suzanne said her book, which is due for release in mid-October and contains  recipes along with photo-graphs of the Fallingwater landscape, “is going to be an inside look at what people really did at Fallingwater.” The project evolved from a story she wrote about Elsie Henderson in 1991 for the Pittsburgh Press. 

Our dinner party
Instead of a press release that evening, we were getting a “taste release.” Each item served was a recipe from Suzanne’s book. But first we shared wine and conversation with Suzanne and Bob, relating their struggles to create the book and the rewards that came with it. Bob was proofreader and advisor to the writing process. They have had interesting lives as journalists, working together at five different newspapers over a 35-year period.   

First course
Our first call to the table was for small bowls of cold gazpacho soup and slices of caramelized onion tart. A crowning touch in the gazpacho were the tiny peeled whole grape tomatoes that burst with flavor in my mouth. The tart filling rested in a perfectly crumbly butter pastry crust. I was surprised by the sweetness of the caramelized onions. The main course, served buffet style, included blue cheese coleslaw, spoon bread and beef daube with porcini mushrooms.  

The addition of Roquefort or blue cheese to the coleslaw recipe was brilliant, adding a new character to this salad classic. The recipes in The Fallingwater Cookbook, Suzanne noted, are slightly off the beaten path. “They always have a little twist in them,” she said. 
Corn meal based spoon bread is a Southern favorite with a rich history. Suzanne’s recipe yields a moistness and taste surpassing traditional corn bread recipes.

According to Suzanne, Daube describes “a cut of beef . . . braised in stock generally with red wine enriched with vegetables and seasoned with herbs.” Like other good beef stews, “Daube may be prepared well in advance and reheated.” The rich, deep flavor and tender chunks of beef in the daube put smiles on our faces and prompted a toast to the chef. As luck would have it, we all took doggie bags home.  The daube tasted every bit as good reheated.

The finale of the evening was a Clove Cake formed in a bundt pan, sitting on the sideboard, over my shoulder, looking temptingly delicious throughout our meal. It looked so milk chocolate brown, sitting there. What a surprise when my first bite noted primary flavors of cloves and cinnamon. We were shocked when Suzanne revealed that the cake contained a full tablespoon each of ground cloves and ground cinnamon. Yikes! I’ve been measuring out 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoons of those spices for years. Full tablespoons? The cake was delicious, with fresh, sliced peaches and whipped cream alongside.

It was an evening I’ll remember. The combination of generous hosts, interesting conversation, good food and the celebration of Suzanne’s cookbook was almost perfection. The only thing missing was The Fallingwater Cookbook itself.  It was en route from Chicago. I’ll purchase my copy during one of several book signing events around the area. Look for one of them. 

Paul Thompson lives in Sequim, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. He enjoys film-watching, reading, sailing, golf and Scrabble

RECIPES 
from The Fallingwater Cookbook

Cole Slaw
The Roquefort, or blue cheese adds the gourmet touch to this salad, an excellent accompaniment to fish or fowl. 
4 cups finely chopped cabbage 
1/3 cup chopped onion 
1/2 cup cup sour cream
1/4 cup Boiled Salad Dressing  (see below)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup blue cheese, optional
In a large bowl, toss the cabbage and chopped onion. Blend the sour cream, salad dressing, salt, dry mustard, and pepper. Add the blue cheese.
Pour over the cabbage and toss well. Serve immediately for a crisp salad, or refrigerate overnight for a marinated flavor and texture.
Between the lines: A combination of red and green cabbage adds color to this salad.

Boiled Salad Dressing
The Kaufmanns did not eat commercial bottled dressings, so theirs were always made from scratch. Leftovers can be kept for approximately two weeks in the refrigerator. 
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar 
1/2  teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 egg yolks
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup vinegar (either white or cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Beef Daube with Porcini Mushrooms
Daube is a French cooking term describing a method of cooking meat.  Although this method can be used for other meat, poultry or game, that term by classic definition describes a cut of beef cooked in daube or braised in stock generally with red wine enriched with vegetables and seasoned with herbs.

Salt
3-pound trimmed beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces (we used the Choice grade beef from Your Marketplace) 
1 tablespoon unsalted butter and more if needed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive and more if needed
1 cup dry red wine
1-1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup peeled and chopped carrots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped, or equivalent of good quality imported canned Italian plum tomatoes (La Valle or La Bella)      1/2 cup celery, stringed and diced
1 additional cup dry red wine
3 cups veal stock or good quality fat-free chicken stock
Bouquet Garni (1 bay leaf and 2 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley and thyme)
3 tablespoons flour
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms soaked in 1-1/2 cups hot water

Salt the meat generously. Melt the butter and oil together in a large frying pan and when just about sizzling add the meat in batches (do not crowd) and brown it evenly over medium high heat.  Transfer the browned meat to a large heat-proof casserole or pot.  

Pour the fat from the frying pan and deglaze it with the first cup of red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the brown bits.  Reduce by one-half and add to the meat. Wipe the pan and add 1 tablespoon additional butter and 2 tablespoons additional olive oil when the pan is hot; add all the vegetables but the tomatoes and sauté 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, cook an additional minute or two, then stir in the flour, blending well.  Add the second cup of wine and 2 cups stock.  Cook until the mixture boils, then add to the meat.

With the remaining cup of stock, deglaze the frying pan and reduce to 3 to 4 tablespoons.  Add this to the meat with the Bouquet Garni and bring the casserole to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for one hour or until the meat is tender.

Remove the dried mushrooms from the soaking liquid and rinse well.  Add the mushrooms after one hour and cook 20 to 30 minutes more.  Adjust the seasoning and serve.

Daube may be prepared well in advance and reheated. Makes 8 servings

Between the lines: The best dried mushrooms come from Europe, especially France and Italy.  Stored dry — never in the freezer or refrigerator — in a cool place away from the light, these mushrooms will keep many months. The soaking liquid from porcini may be filtered through a paper towel and added to the daube as part of the cooking liquid if desired.
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