The Nicholas Estate vineyard is located on a southeast facing slope between the towns of Sherwood and Newberg on Chehalem Mountain in Oregon's northern Willamette Valley. There are 28 acres of Pinot Noir, one acre of Riesling (not enough!) and one tiny acre of Gewurztraminer. The first two blocks we planted saw their first harvest in 2003.
A further 6 acres have been cleared and will be planted in the Fall.
Our 2004 Pinot Noir was the first wine to be blended from the entire vineyard as the vines planted in 2001 year matured. Each block is composed of a different clone (Pommard and Dijon 667, 114, 115 and 777) carefully selected to provide the best blending options for quality wine.
Our vineyard manager, Buddy Beck keeps an eye on our progress, and winemaker Aron Hess guides us through the wonders of winemaking.
Vineyard milestones for 2008 Vintage:
February -- Pruning is complete, and we're tying the canes to the trellis wires and pulling the brush. It's "maintenance time" in the vineyard, inspecting posts and wires and repairing any damage by the tractor man. Speaking of Nick, he has a new toy ... an in-row cultivator. This ingenious machine tills the earth between the vines without harming them and turns over the weeds before they establish. Weed control without chemicals is one more step in our quest to become L.I.V.E. (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) certified and ultimately organic.
The blue birds are back and visiting the six new nesting boxes we've built.
May 5 Bud Break! Three weeks later than last year, but fortuitously so because we received snow, hail and near-freezing temperatures in mid April which could have damaged the young buds.
2007 Harvest Recap
September 28 - our first harvest of the year! The rains are coming, but our low-yield Reserve vines are ready, so we picked them ahead of the weekend storms. We also picked one ton of Gewurztraminer for "ice wine" and the grapes were frozen for what we hope will be the best "sticky" in Oregon!
October 5 - we pick again. It certainly rained -- hard -- for most of the week. Fortunately the temperatures were cool and the strong winds seem to have kept any negative molds at bay. In fact, the extra hang time has resulted in remarkable flavor development and the berries taste terrific. We still only picked about 1/3 of the vineyard since the older vines and Riesling are holding their own.
October 13 - the end? Or the beginning? We picked the remaining fruit this morning including our Pommard and Riesling, and then followed the last of the small harvest bins to the winery. It's a sad-sweet moment in a vineyard's year when we say goodbye to the grapes we nurtured for months, yet realize that all our hard work in the vineyard has made them as perfect as they can be. As Aron says, "You've aced all the numbers that winemakers consider when picking, the fruit is among the best I've seen this year and the flavors are outstanding." We are on track for our best vintage yet.
Photo caption: Digger -- our enthusiastic but ineffective gopher control specialist.
