This Is Our Story

Our Founder, Katy Armes studied Hotel and Restaurant Administration at Oklahoma State University. Finding this path was somewhat of an accident resulting from a late-night conversation with a cook at the steakhouse in Stillwater, Oklahoma where she was working in college while they were cleaning up for the night. He asked her why she wanted to be in politics because it would be a waste of clear talent and love for hospitality. He was right but she didn’t even know you could get a degree in something like that. This fateful conversation truly changed her life.

 

During her time in the HRAD program, she met a professor who saw something special in her. He invited her to intern for his wine brokerage in Oklahoma City in the summer of 2009 and helped get her hired at Brown's Bottle Shop as well. When she completed her studies in December of 2010, she went to work full time for his company and moved to OKC. She learned a lot about wine from around the world during her years there but in 2012, Katy moved to Oregon to further her career in the wine industry. She was ready to focus her efforts on a certain region and she loved her visit to The Willamette Valley. She made a few friends there before she chose to move and in the fall of 2012, Katy began her wine journey in Oregon.

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Katy worked her first harvest for Sokol-Blosser Winery. She then learned to be a barista in McMinnville while working part-time in the tasting room of Willamette Valley's oldest winery, The Eyrie Vineyards. Eventually, she found full-time work in the tasting room of White Rose Estate and became their local sales rep. Deciding to try management, she applied for a role at a new winery called Saffron Fields Vineyards. They took a chance on her and she enjoyed learning the ropes of operating a small winery where she hosted and planned many events including an impressive 4th of July celebration each year as well as countless weddings.

 

A few years later, she decided to see if she enjoyed any other types of hospitality work, but after a short stint in vacation rental management, Katy went back to wine. She managed the tasting room at Montinore Estate under the tutelage of her dear friend, Sarah Horner, and then she was soon poached by Jackson Family Wines to manage the tasting room at WillaKenzie Estate.

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During this time Katy made a big move to Portland from living in wine country for many years. In 2018, Katy took another short hiatus from the wine industry working for a popular restaurant group in the city.

 

Then Covid-19 hit and the world changed forever.

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During the height of the pandemic, Katy realized that she wanted to be self-employed to have more control over her own schedule and to have more time for traveling and enjoying family and friends. She knew if her Father was ever going to stop teasing her about moving home to Oklahoma she was going to have to take some of his entrepreneurial spirit and prove to herself that she could really thrive. She was blessed to spend a couple of summers hosting wine tours for her friend Jack's company called Backcountry Wine Tours. With his blessing, Katy decided to create her own tour service.

With a touch of sass and a lot of Southern Hospitality, Scissortail Wine Tours was created.