THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND PATTON VALLEY VINEYARDS IS SIMPLE:
To put only the best possible fruit
in the wine. To achieve that goal, we started with a prime vineyard site
in the northern reach of Oregon's Willamette Valley, a site blessed with
weathered, uniform soil, and ideal elevation and exposure.
But site selection is only part of a larger picture. To bring fickle Pinot
Noir grapes to their full potential, we adopted painstaking vineyard practices
that emphasize flavor over production volume. These practices — such
as high density planting, shoot thinning and cluster thinning — increase
cultivation costs and reduce the amount of fruit that can be harvested.
For Pinot lovers, however, such a tradeoff is well worth the expense.
SITE LOCATION, HISTORY AND SOIL
Located in the northern reach of the Willamette Valley, the vineyard is
sited on a hill with views of Patton Valley to the southwest and the Tualatin
Valley to the east. The vineyard site starts about halfway up the hill
at an elevation of approximately 350 feet breaking due east, and wraps
up and over the top of the hill at 500 feet with exposures bending from
the southeast through the south and ending to the southwest.
The top 40 acres of the site is composed of deep, extremely well drained
Laurelwood soil. Laurelwood is a silty loam of marine sedimentary origin.
It has a fine pedigree for producing Pinot Noir, including the reserve
wines of Ponzi, one of Oregon's premier winegrowers.
The site had been a commercial prune and cherry orchard for more than
20 years. In 1995, the upper 40 acres were cleared of orchard trees, ripped
to a 4-foot depth to remove roots and relieve any compaction from prior
farming, planted with ryegrass and allowed to lay fallow for two years
With the aid of Alan Holstein, one of Oregon's most experienced viticulturists,
we designed the layout and planted the first 10-acre block in 1997 on
the eastern and southeastern slopes.
VARIETIES PLANTED AND YIELDS
In 1997, a 10-acre block on the eastern and southeastern slope was planted
with a mixture of clones: approximately 80% Dijon (114, 115, 667 and 777)
and 20% Pommard on three different phylloxera-resistant rootstocks (3309,
101-14 and Riparia gloire). We planted 1,478 plants per acre (6 feet between
rows and 5 feet between plants). This high density planting technique
maximizes the amount of leaf area per acre, significantly improving ripening
potential. With such narrow rows, we had to purchase specialized narrow
equipment, including a nifty Italian crawler tractor.
We strongly believe that superior wines will only result from vineyards
that are consistently managed to low yields, which in Oregon looks to
be at around 2.0 tons/acre. Our original 10-acre block yielded 1.7 tons/acre
when harvested in 1999. We have continued to reduce our yields in subsequent
vintages striving for evermore complexity, with the yield in 2003 coming
in at just 1.35 tons/acre.
In 1998, we planted an additional 5-acre parcel on Riparia rootstock,
which has demonstrated early ripening on our site. A mixture of Dijon
clones, including 113, 114, 115 as well as an old standby
in the valley, Wadenswil were planted. In 1999, an additional 3.8 acres
were planted, including clones 115, 667 and Wadenswil. In 2000, approximately
one acre was planted to clone 114 on Riparia rootstock. In 2001, one-half
acre of clone 667 was planted, followed by an acre of clone777 in 2002.
In 2003, planting was completed for the near-term, with 2 acres of clone
113 and 777 added, giving Patton Valley 23 planted acres.