Vineyard

The name “Chaos” is a nod to the original planting in 2020. We planted during the height of the pandemic, a chaotic time in history, and we chose to plant the vineyard in a chaotic manner: we planted eleven clones of pinot noir on five different rootstocks. Our vineyard consultant, Chad Stock, called it “controlled chaos,” where the diversity of clones and ripening would create a truly unique flavor profile.

Sadly, a weather pattern called a heat dome arrived unexpectedly in June that year, and the temperature rose to 113 degrees fahrenheit in the vineyard, an all time record. The extreme heat persisted for three straight days. It was too much for the baby vines and we experienced 95% vine death. Perhaps it reinforced the concept of chaos.

In the meantime, we had become familiar with a varietal called mencia, a red winegrape varietal from the Galicia region in Spain. We decided to replant entirely to this varietal. We continued the clonal chaos, selecting all four clones of mencia that were commercially available, but chose to maintain uniformity in rootstock with everything on 101-14.

We are one of just a few mencia growers in the United States, but believe it is particularly well suited to our climate in the Willamette Valley. We follow organic farming practices and expect to harvest the first vintage for production in 2026.

Availability will be very limited, less than 200 cases will be produced annually.