Vineyard
The vineyard is located at the South end of the Eola Hills and lays 250
feet above the Willamette River. The gentle south-facing slope is
predominated with a stony silt clay loam soil with an average depth of
two feet. The first vines were planted on 1.5 acre block in 2001
consisting of 7 varieties matched to appropriate rootstocks. Additional
planting were done over the following years. The final 4 acres 2 each of
Pinot noir and Pinot gris were planted in 2005, giving the site 8 total
acres with 10 varieties and many clone selections of Pinot noir, Oregon’s
primary winegrape.
The vineyard is managed using sustainable winegrowing practices that balance
natural controls for pest management, nutrient recycling, and low environmental
impact. Management of the vineyard includes the monitoring of disease and
insect pests and irrigation scheduling through established climate models. Data
on degree days, evapotranspiration, rainfall, soil volumetric water content,
and solar radiation are recorded using onsite electronic weather and soil
monitoring equipment. The vineyard was certified sustainable
in 2003 by the Salmon Safe and
Low Input Viticulture and Enology (LIVE) programs.
Salmon Safe is a northwest organization that certifies farms for reducing
agriculture's impacts on endangered salmon and steelhead habitat in the
Pacific Northwest
LIVE (LIVE, Inc.) is a program providing
vineyards and wineries official recognition for sustainable agricultural
practices that are modeled after international standards. These standards
are highly regarded by winemakers and consumers worldwide. They provide
assurance of fruit quality and practices used to achieve this quality.
The certification program provides growers with a list of vineyard practices
that are either prohibited or required; in addition the program requires
that growers institute a number of ecological options. A point system for
ecological options was developed and growers are required to obtain at
least one half of the points to become certified.
The 8 acre producing vineyard will provide grapes to the winemaking students
and allow the Norwest Viticulture Center to enter commercial production. This
will provide students with wines to use in the Wine Marketing program under
development.
Students are involved in all aspects of vineyard care including planting,
pruning, summer management, and harvest. Located on site are a number
of weather monitoring devices used to guide the students in making decisions
on irrigation scheduling, disease control models, and predicting growth
stages of the vines.
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