By KARL KLOOSTER
Of the News-Register

Few couples could say they were able to find an ideal place where each could realize their most cherished career goals. Almost inevitably, one partner has to sacrifice for the other, with the higher wage earner often taking priority.

This is one of those rare exceptions. It came about because both people lost their jobs at the same time.

Dana and Byron Dooley were a high-tech, married couple betting on the future of computers and cyberspace. Byron wanted to continue his education, so they moved to Corvallis. Byron went to OSU. Dana went to work for Hewlett-Packard.

Along the way, they developed an affinity for Oregon. But the Beaver State was mired in recession during the early 1980s and, after Byron graduated, promising job opportunities beckoned in Illinois.

According to Dana, it was a planned two-year move that turned into four before they finally returned to the West Coast so she could earn her MBA at Stanford, while he brought in the paycheck.

This time, their stay in Northern California was longer, spanning the Silicon Valley run-up and the initial Internet boom that turned to bust just after the turn of the millennium.

The dot-com bubble left thousands of formerly high-flying techies jobless, the Dooleys among them. But, as Dana said, "it gave us permission to do what we really wanted to do."

When the money was rolling in, they bought a cottage in Angwin, a little town nestled in the hills just west of the Napa Valley. They sold their house in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Los Gatos and retreated to the relative calm of California's most prestigious wine district.

Wine had become integral to the Dooley lifestyle well before the big crash, but now Byron made it his primary focus. He planted an acre on their Angwin property to Bordeaux varietals and got hooked to the point where he knew he had to take his interest beyond the hobby stage.

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He earned a viticulture and enology degree at Napa State College, then interned in Healdsburg at Williams Selyem Winery, one of California's most prestigious pinot noir producers. But what he really wanted was his own winery.

Ultimately, however, he came to the conclusion that going into the wine business in California was beyond their financial reach. Meantime, Dana was immersing herself in another indulgence that she had played around with for years.

It, too, had risen to the point where mere dabbling would no longer do. Or, more aptly, dipping, since she had gotten into candymaking, the outgrowth of a confectionery course she took when they were living in Corvallis.

The most exquisite expression of candymaking is, of course, chocolate, and the idea of producing gourmet chocolates on at least a modest commercial scale became firmly implanted in Dana's MBA-oriented brain.

Then the ultimate question loomed. Could Dana and Byron find a location where they would both be able to satisfy their desires? They needed a place where they could grow great pinot noir grapes, where they could afford to buy several acres, where there was no premium chocolate retailer.

What about Oregon? They had always liked it there. A visit to the Yamhill Valley and Third Street in McMinnville was all it took.

In 2004, the Dooleys moved to Mac. Dana leased a location on Third Street for the business she had decided to call Honest Chocolates.

Byron came across 33 acres northwest of McMinnville in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA and snapped it up. They named that business Seven of Hearts, a whimsical play on Seven, the couple's cat, and medieval playing cards representing the ancient Burgundian wine tradition.

In 2006, he planted 12 acres of pinot noir for their Luminous Hills Estate Vineyard. The first estate fruit will be picked in 2008. Meantime, purchased Dundee Hills grapes have gone into the 2006 and 2007 pinots Byron made.

As Dana's McMinnville operation kept cooking along, she didn't need all the space and sublet the front end of the storefront to Orchards Bistro, which has emerged as an innovative dining spot.

Though she said that she didn't originally make her chocolates with wine pairing in mind, wineries started coming to her to purchase high quality local chocolate they could feature in their tasting rooms.

It wasn't long before the subject of complementary flavor pairings cropped up, and Dana began to experiment with various combinations in a quest for perfect compatibility.

She created ganaches (whipped fillings) with creative wine and fruit reductions. Enticing combinations include plum-merlot, cherry-pinot and port-raisin. Currants folded into the dark chocolate have worked well with bigger wines.

"We frequently partner with local wineries to create custom chocolates for tasting events," she said. "Wineries we've worked with include A to Z, Anne Amie, ArborBrook, Archery Summit, Argyle, Coelho, Ken Wright, Medici, Methven, Walnut City and Yamhill Valley Vineyards."

Not being one to deny the entrepreneurial urge, Dana launched a second Honest Chocolates location in Newberg last October and has just opened an expanded production facility in Carlton.

"All of the ganaches will be made there from now on," she said. "But we'll still do dipping in McMinnville and Newberg. It's a real art and people love to see it done."

Pondering the possibility of just doing production in Carlton and not selling out of that facility, she decided to invite locals to an open house. The response was so overwhelmingly in favor of having a retail outlet there, she plans to plunge ahead.

"After all, it's right in the heart of wine country," she said. "Tourists are coming through town year-round now."

Byron didn't object. He's putting a tasting room for Seven of Hearts in the same location.

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