Estate Vineyard
From the Producer:
Coury Clone Block: In the spring of 2000 we took over the farming of what is now our Estate Vineyard from Autumn Wind Winery and Vineyard. Even though the purchase of the property and business would not occur until later that year we were entrusted with running the operation as if it were our own already. The vineyard was only around 22 acres at the time with a good deal of plantable land available. There were also areas that needed to be addressed. This block was one of those. This was originally planted in 1985. It is on a very steep facing at the apex of the vineyard’s hillside. The terraces that had been built to account for the hill’s grade were collapsing making tractor work hazardous. On top of that years of soil neglect had created an extremely untenable growing environment for the plants. We decided to tear this section out and start again. At this juncture Dijon clones were quite fashionable (not they are not now, just more so in an outsized sort of way back then) and since the vineyard was solely Pommard and Wadensvil we decided to plant Dijon 777. The decision never panned out. Despite having the Etzel Block to its west, the Wadensvil Block to the north and the Hallelujah Block (the largest portion of the Estate Old Vine) this block never produced wine anywhere near the quality of its neighbors. For 15+ years we saw harvests produce wines that usually were scheduled for our Willamette Valley bottling rather than something more unique and individual. While clonal makeup is not the defining character of terroir it is an aspect and in this case, we felt that aspect was holding things back. In the spring of 2019, we traded some vineyard management expertise for cuttings off our block of Coury Clone at Freedom Hill Vineyard. Given our success there and at Hyland Vineyard with this unique, Oregon-based clone we felt like we could maximize the setting. In one vintage, not counting the smoke taint-befouled 2020 vintage, we found that we were proven correct. More good things to come from this interesting part of our Estate!
Farming Practices: We have done the management of this property internally since we purchased it in 2000 with the exception of 2014 and 2015 when Sterling Fox’s management service did the work. Also, at that time, the vineyard was switched entirely to organic farming practices and remains so to this day. The vineyard has always been dry farmed.