Lorie Dilley bought a Sandy winery last year and is excited to bring her Buddha Kat Winery to Seaside.

It just really appealed to me, a nice little town, Dilley said. Ive had a house in Seaside for a few years now as a vacation home. I thought that would be a great location to open up another location for Buddha Kat.

Buddha Kat Winery, at 37 N. Edgewood St., is where Beach Books once was located. Dilley hopes the downtown location will become a community hub, where friends can meet and have a glass of wine together.

Thats important, she said. I want to be involved in the community because thats part of owning a business in town.

The Seaside location officially opened Sept. 13 and, though it was a soft opening, Buddha Kat had a good turnout.

It went extremely well, said Ben Schlattmen, Buddha Kats manager. We had a lot of people stop by.

Schlattmen oversees the day-to-day operations at Buddha Kat, which boasts a spacious tasting room serving up a variety of wines, with a current focus on fruit wines by Wasson Winery, the winery that Dilley bought and rechristened Buddha Kat.

Dilley, Schlattmen and winemaker Joshua Rude will keep the Wasson fruit wines available while they take steps to get their own Buddha Kat label approved.

We are going to keep that alive, Schlattmen said. They have great recipes. … They make a great fruit wine.

The new labels should be approved by early next year, allowing Rude to start bottling his own wines and Buddha Kat to add merlots, pinots and other varietals that take more time than the fruit wines.

Dilley also plans to offer guest wines from several wineries in the Sandy area.

The idea is to try and offer their wines on a rotating basis, and that way theres at least a selection, she said. Some of these smaller wineries that we know, (its) an opportunity for them to sell.

At the moment, Buddha Kat features guest wines from Leaning Star Winery, of Gresham, and Dilley said there are plans to add more area wineries to its guest list. Buddha Kat may eventually expand to include beer, Dilley said because not everybody likes to drink wine.

Be it wine or beer, Schlattmen and Dilley, who hope to bring the people of Seaside together, are happy to be here.

This is a really nice city, really laid back, Schlattmen said. Ive never been in such a small town with so much foot traffic. … I think its going to work out.

Buddha Kat Winery is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday. The winery is also starting a happy hour from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, when all its offerings will be 20 percent off.