Winemaking

Our wines celebrate the countless intersections of nature and science. It’s an ongoing process of careful observation, focus on the details and the pursuit of something wondrous.

As an estate-only affair, we focus solely on our Dundee Hills vineyard. Putting our site in sharp focus allows us to not only showcase the traits of the appellation, but celebrate the diversity within our rows. It’s a matter of scale and we keep things small, affording more attention to the seemingly little things, from specific vineyard blocks and clones to individual barrels. We make wines meant to magnify the very best of variables like vintage, varietal and vineyard.

The fruit that arrives on the crush pad is the product of meticulous, year round farming. Our task is to carry it gently towards wine without losing sight of its unique identity. That means few inputs and a soft guiding hand, from gentle extractions and pressings early to minimal new oak during aging. Winemaker Dave Petterson is after truly reflective wines, opting for symbiosis over a specific style. Empirical, experimental and adaptive, our winemaking practice ensures that the details of a particular year always end up in the glass. 

We work to protect the individuality at play in the vineyard, making wines from block to block. Preserving these distinctions allows for more quality and permutations down the line, whether we’re making a single-clone Pinot Noir or fine-tuning a blend. The blueprint for the wines is born in the vineyard. We build accordingly, with care and a minimal mindset so as to not alter the unique and natural personality. The objective is to end up with everything that went into the wine in the first place—the essence of the vineyard.

A vintage begins well before harvest, when the vines just begin to wake up from winter. Similarly, winemaking extends well beyond just harvest. We shadow the wines throughout the entirety of their evolution, appreciative of the impact so many subtle things can combine to create. That means celebrating even the imperceptible, like the microorganisms in our soil or the wild yeast that kicks off a fermentation. Our love for wine is subatomic. 

Vineyard

Our 42-acre vineyard is home to three grape varieties, rooted in ancient soils in the heart of the historic Dundee Hills. Located just up the road from the Willamette Valley’s first planting of Pinot Noir, the vineyard occupies some of the most suitable conditions cooler-climate varietals could ask for. The combination of mineral-rich volcanic soils, an even microclimate and a higher-elevation setting make it one of just a few of places on the planet that meet Pinot Noir’s long list of demands. 

Some 12,000 years ago, our site stood above a vast lake triggered by the Missoula Floods. This colossal series submerged valley floors from western Montana all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The Dundee Hills and their coveted red soils were spared, set above the flood line. This iron-clad dirt, born from age-old lava flows and known for both its exceptional drainage and water retention, would help spawn an entire industry.

The original plantings at the top of the hill reach an elevation of 870 feet, with views of the rugged Cascades to the east. The younger plantings steer west on an evergreen-framed slope that overlooks the Coastal Range. Resident grapes benefit from ample biodiversity, from strands of native oak and cover crop to bobcats and red-tailed hawks. LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) certified and Salmon Safe, the vineyard is monitored by a third-party and adheres to an internationally-recognized sustainability program. 

The vineyard is home to Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and six clones of Pinot Noir. Agriculturally, less is more. We exercise restraint in our farming so as not to not hide the personality of the fruit. That means minimal intervention in the form of inputs and irrigation and no fertilizers. When we do intervene, it’s done by hand, from pruning and thinning to harvesting individual clusters. While the yields are low, the caliber of the fruit is remarkable.

The Coppola Family

Before Francis Ford Coppola was known as a filmmaker, he was called Science. That was his title growing up, a testament to his wandering mind and fascination with engineering and technology. While his grandfather fermented wine in homemade vats in the family’s New York basement, Francis would dream up theories, devise inventions and gain a love for the inner workings of all things.