Sometimes it pays to take the road less traveled. In the late 1980s, Dick Shea and his wife, Deirdre, did just that. Rather than planting in the well-established Dundee Hills, they searched for an exceptional site in the lesser-known hills east of Yamhill. At the time, only a handful of pioneers were willing to invest…
Temperance Hill Vineyard sits high along the crest of the Eola–Amity Hills, a breathtaking 200-acre site purchased by the Koos family in 1980- well before the region earned its global reputation. Surrounded by storied neighbors such as Bethel Heights (planted in 1977), Zena Crown, Justice, Zenith (formerly O’Connor), and Cristom Vineyards…
Planted in 1989 by the original owners of Rex Hill, it is a truly unique 27-acre vineyard at the intersection of marine and volcanic soils. Tucked into the south side of the Chehalem Mountains, it is a warmer site for Pinot Noir, producing intense fruit, heady aromatics, and lots of structure. We source from two…
To create an AVA (American Viticultural Area) it takes years of climate, soil, watershed, and historical research along with the cooperation of a diverse group of people to get it over the finish line. In other words, it is no easy feat to define a unique growing area. Having been around the process in my…
Not long after I arrived at Pike Road in February 2018, we released our 2016 Pinot Noir from Fairsing Vineyard. The wine was interesting and delicious, but a bit shy at first. As it aged over the following year or two, it blossomed into one of my favorites from our Single Vineyard line-up. I kept…
We get fruit from some super-star vineyards of the Willamette Valley – well-established names and reputations like Shea, Temperance Hill, and Zenith. Winemakers love to work with these benchmark sites, but sometimes the real fun is the discovery of something relatively unknown and being on the cutting edge of something new. Xander Taryn Vineyard is…
La Dolce Vita Vineyards – Passionate owners aspiring to greatness! A textbook Oregon spring day was the perfect time to get out of the office and explore one of the small, family-owned vineyards where we source our grapes. As a red-tailed hawk screamed above, we jumped on a quad with Scott Hildebrandt, owner of La…