Our Vineyard
We meticulously planned every detail – the varietal and clonal selections, their specific location on the property, the row orientation, the training methods and more – to transform this undeveloped property into a fermentation farm that we believe is perfectly suited to this particular place.
Instead of bending the property to fit preconceived notions about what we wanted to do, we wanted to embrace the unique features of this property and let those unique features guide everything that we do.
Much of our vineyard sits on a hill shaped like an old Roman amphitheater. Its undulating slope and varying aspects produce significant variation across and even within blocks, producing more variation and complexity in our wines.
Its bellpine soils were formed more than 12 million years ago. These soils - compact, well draining and devoid of nutrients - make it difficult to establish young vines. However, once they are established and the roots have pushed deep enough, it produces concentrated and incredibly flavorful wines.
Throughout the year, we enjoy cool afternoon coastal winds. On certain days, you can feel the moisture and even smell the sea. These winds help to achieve balance over the course of hot summer days and, at higher elevations, increase air flow through the canopy.
And, given our location within the Valley and the contours of our hills, we are, on average, slightly warmer than many other vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley.
These and other factors were not things we wanted to ignore. Instead, they influenced every decision we made - from grape varieties and selections to row orientation to training methods - with the goal of producing the most flavorful and highest quality wines possible to represent this place that we adore.
Grape Varieties & Selections
When you drive through the Willamette Valley, one of the first things you will notice is that vineyards, though prevalent, do not dominate the landscape. The most beautiful feature of this place is its diversity. Almost anything can be grown successfully here. The same is true for grape varieties. So, when it came to selecting grape varieties and clones for our site, we were guided by a few considerations - our specific growing conditions, flavor development, resilience. Ultimately, we planted more than a dozen grape varieties on just over fifteen acres of our farm, including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Aligoté, Chenin Blanc, Gamay Noir, Godello, Mencia, Savagnin, Albariño and Arinto.
Growing Conditions
We have focused on the grape varieties and clones we believed would excel in our climate and on our site. There are important similarities between the Willamette Valley and other grape growing regions like Northwest Spain and the Loire Valley - the climate, the volume and seasonality of rainfall, the soil types, the proximity cold oceans and rivers, the forested mountain ranges. These similarities, stronger than the connections with other regions like Burgundy, played an important role in our decision making.
Flavor Development
Every year, our goal is to ensure that there is harmony between phenolic ripeness and sugar ripeness. To achieve this, we have focused on varietals and clonal selections that we believe have somewhat longer ripening curves, have more natural acidity, and produce the most intense and interesting flavors. Wherever possible, we gravitated toward lower yielding selections (with smaller clusters and berries) to concentrate and intensify the flavors. We have planted things like Aligoté Doré, a special clone of Gamay Noir from Morgon, a Chenin Blanc selection from the Loire and heirloom selections of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Resilience
Some of the best wines are made in regions where the grapes struggle to ripen in certain years. In the face of a warming climate, we have selected varietals and clones that will ensure our farm remains well positioned to produce superb wines well into the future even as our growing seasons become hotter. Though climate change is producing consistently warmer years in the Willamette Valley, vintage variation remains an important consideration. That is why we also planted varietals and clones that can be used to make a diverse style of wines: still or sparkling, lean or powerful. With this versatility comes resiliency and the ability to deliver beautiful and compelling wines to our customers each year.
Fruit Orchard
In a nod to the longstanding history of this particular part of Yamhill, which is known as Cove Orchard, we have dedicated parts of our farm to a variety of fruit trees. We have slowly begun to nurse some of the old plum, apple and pear trees on the property back to health, pruning them each year both for sake of preserving these old trees and determining if they can be used to grow fruit for our own consumption or use in our ciders.
We have also dedicated a portion of the farm to cider apple production. We were one of the first orchards in the country planted exclusively to Spanish cider apple varieties. To date, we have planted 15 different varieties of cider apples from Northern Spain: Blanquina, Collaos, Coloradona, Cristalina, De la Riega, Marialena, Perico, Piel de Sapa, Raxao, Reinata do Caravia, Repinaldo do Liebana, Sangre de Toro, Solarina, Teorica and Xuanina.
We have planted other fruit trees to feed our family and to share with guests during special events, including peaches, apricots, figs and almonds.
Hops & Grains
At the beginning of this adventure, we knew that we wanted to grow hops and grains in order to produce a small amount of single-farm beers. Among other things, this is a nod to the brewing tradition in Nate's home state of Wisconsin (not to mention the family's love of the Milwaukee Brewers). We are currently growing several different varieties of hops: Saaz, Hallertauer, Spalt Select, Serebrianka, Fuggle, Tettnanger and Kent Golding. For more information on any of these, visit the Thyme Garden website, where we source our hops rhizomes. And, in the Fall of 2024, we began experimenting with a small patch of land that could serve as the home of our barley. With the help of Washington State Crop Improvement Association, we have begun testing a variety called Lontra, which was developed by Oregon State University.