First and foremost is the vineyard. Great vineyards create outstanding wine when thoughtfully farmed with well-chosen varieties. We have established relationships with a select group of winegrowers who have allowed us to become intimately involved in their vineyard management. In addition, we have introduced new rootstocks to Washington state to best match sites with varietals.

For over 20 years, we have gathered data and nurtured a diverse native plant cover crop as we have expanded our estate vineyards. We continue to push new viticultural limits, planting one of the rockiest sites in the cooler Columbia Gorge AVA. All of our estate fruit is farmed with Biodynamic practices. We use organic compost additions and neighborhood wood chips to manage the soil for optimal water retention, fungal activity, and carbon capture, with dry farming potential for our estate vineyards. In addition, the native plants create extended biological activity, feeding soil microorganisms throughout the year. 

All grapes are handpicked, brought to the winery, and partially destemmed, with a large portion kept as whole clusters. Fermentation in French concrete fermenting tanks and large upright oak vats occurs for all of our finest lots of grapes. Native or ‘wild’ yeast fermentations are cultivated. Each lot is either foot trod (pigeage à pied), manually punched-down, or pumped-over.

Free-run juice is kept separate for our top bottlings. Gently pressed and free-run juices are separately matured in older French oak, oak vats, or concrete tanks. We have sworn off manipulating the wines and have chosen to blend instead of fining. Wines are bottled either before the next harvest or the spring following. Our focus is on each vineyard’s unique expression of place.