February greetings from our hillside! These mid-winter months in the Willamette Valley can feel bleak, but we’ve had an unusually dry winter and many sunny days. It’s been easy to keep our hands warm while pruning this winter.
Our hearts are also warmed by the outlook of 2026. Our kids have always helped with harvest, bottling, events, but since last fall, our daughter and son-in-law, Erin and Tyler, have been more involved in the day-to-day operations of our business!
Keep reading for more vineyard and winery updates, upcoming events, plus our 2025 Harvest Review.
Cheers to 2026!
Warmly,
Joel and Laurie
In the Family
We have been so lucky that our son, Adam, has worked (remotely) for us for over two years now. We meet by phone most weekdays to coordinate on marketing, newsletters, and so much more. Adam handles our marketing and social media, as well as shipping logistics, most of our communication, and keeps us organized. He also creates the pen-and-ink art on our labels. We couldn’t do this without him. Adam, his wife Jaime, and their two kids ages 2½ and 4 months, now live in Virginia.
Erin and Tyler and their two kids, ages 5 and almost 3, live just 20 minutes away and have become integral to our operation as well. Tyler is here most afternoons to help with everything from harvest and winemaking to mowing the lawn and fixing doorknobs, and now pruning the vines. It has been great to have his capable assistance and can-do attitude. Erin uses her project management skills to spearhead cleanup and organization projects, and is a great help with our winery events. Erin also creates the watercolor art on our labels. The five of us meet weekly and, in an interesting role reversal, our kids are pushing us (in the best sense) toward getting things done.
In the Vineyard
We stand by this tried-and-true observation: There is no such thing as ‘normal’ Oregon weather. This winter has been so warm that we haven’t had to go around the property and drain all the water valves that would be damaged by freezing weather.
Fortunately, in the vineyard, there is no sign yet of ‘wooly bud’, the white fuzz on the buds that develop when the vines begin ‘waking up’. Pruning really should be done by the wooly bud stage, usually at the end of March, otherwise the pruning process slows way down due to the fragility of the buds. This unusually warm winter may cause the vines to emerge from dormancy early. But Joel and Tyler are halfway through pruning, way ahead of schedule!
Pruning is so satisfying. On an un-pruned vine, the canes go every direction. Over the course of a few minutes, after cutting off most of last years’ growth and selecting the best single cane to tie on the trellis, the result is order and simplicity. The finished acres feel like we actually have control of Mother Nature. Which is, of course, merely a fleeting fantasy.
Grafting
Over these past few years, we have grafted Chardonnay into some of our Pinot Noir vines. We’re not moving away from Pinot Noir, we would just like more Chardonnay. When we graft onto established vines, they reach full grape production in just two years, rather than five or six years for new plantings. Amazing! This March we’ll do more grafting, but this time we’ll graft some of our Pinot Gris vines over to a new clone that we discovered in our vineyard a few years ago. More on this new adventure in the future.
Grandkids
A few days ago, it was gloriously sunny and our granddaughter, McKenzie, now five, arrived with Tyler at the vineyard. She walked up and down the vineyard hills, picking bouquets of deceased Queen Anne’s Lace flowers while Joel pruned. It is amazing to think some of her earliest memories will include a vineyard and her ‘Papa’.
In the Winery
By Joel
The 2025 vintage is all in barrel, and slowly fermenting. Yesterday I walked past the barrels of 2025 Chardonnay and noticed a missing bung (the stopper in the top of the barrel). As I pressed my ear on the hole, I heard the reassuring hiss of CO2 formation, indicating that malolactic fermentation was still active. As the days get warmer, the back-pressure from CO2 can get so high that a bung pops off and bounces all over. It didn’t go far this time, just underneath the barrel. I washed it off and set it back into place, lightly, so the CO2 could escape and not blow off the bung again.
Sparkling Wine
We are getting ready to bottle our 2024 sparkling wine! We are using ‘méthode traditionnelle’, the ‘traditional method’, perfected in Champagne, France centuries ago. It is a lengthy process that starts with regular ‘still’ wine, made from grapes picked early to keep a high acid profile. In the next few months, we will add sugar and yeast to our still wine, then bottle it in the thick glass bottles that can withstand CO2 build up. The yeast will metabolize the sugars and create those tiny bubbles! After a year or so, we will riddle the bottles, disgorge them, and add the cork. We’ll explain more about this process as we go along…
2025 Harvest Review
The 2025 vintage will be one to remember, but harvest at our vineyard was shadowed by heartbreak… to read more, click the button.
Read the Harvest Review
Events
Yamhill-Carlton Spring Tasting: April 25th
We’ll be at the Yamhill-Carlton Spring Tasting this year, alongside 30 wineries, all pouring Yamhill-Carton AVA wines. We’d love to see you at the stunning barn at Abbey Road Farm. There will be incredible bites, too. It’s always an event to remember!
Tickets
Thanks to our fantastic 2025 crews!
2026 Rosé Pick
In June or July we will email more information about when harvest will start and the approximate dates of our Rosé Pick.
Thank you for reading!