Revitalize the Planet through Regenerative Agriculture

We find ourselves drawn to biodynamic vineyards and wineries.  The wines they produce are just a step ahead in taste and nuance, and we wanted to discover why.  We started pursuing interviews with biodynamic wineries. Tablas Creek, Montinore Estate,  Syncline, and Hedges Family Wine were all early on our list.  We found ourselves drawn to their wine and how they farmed their grapes, the way they expressed themselves, the way they looked at not just their vineyards but the planet.

When we traveled to Australia with the Wine Media Conference, we visited Krinklewood and Lowe wines.  Back in the United States, in the Applegate Valley, we discovered Troon and Cowhorn. In the Willamette Valley, we found Johan.  On our trip to Italy last year with the Wine Media Conference we discovered, Marcel Zanolari, on a press trip this year, Cirelli and Emidio Pepe in Abruzzo.

Visiting these vineyards and tasting their wines only reinforced the belief that farming biodynamically and applying the extra effort to make the soil and ecosystem better were, in FACT, making these wines better.

Former Cowhorn Vineyard owner Bill Steele told us during an interview on Biodynamics, “in Biodynamics we found our people”.   In a sense we also found our own people, and continue to find our own people through winemakers, writers, and advocates, all working separately towards the same goal. What is that goal? To have a purpose that is meaningful, providing better food, making a wine that you are proud to share with family and friends, leaving the farm and planet better than you found it.

Our team of Winemaker Advocates

This is a team that includes people who want to experiment, ask questions, evolve learn, grow share, make the world a better place, make a difference.

Montinore Estate,

Willamette Valley Oregon

Montinore Estate was established in 1982 in the Tualatin Hills of the Northwestern Willamette Valley.   Rudy Marchesi now presides over this 200-acre biodynamic vineyard.

This property had previously been a hazelnut farm and a cattle ranch, and in the 80s, when Mount St. Helens erupted, the lower fields that at the time were planted to vegetables were covered in ash.  In 1982 the Grahams, who owned the property at the time, did a study and decided to plant vines.

Rudy had been working with the winery and encouraged them to move to biodynamics to combat phylloxera, which had been causing them to rip out vines.  He started studying soil microbiology.  He also realized that the wines that he liked the best were biodynamic.

He began using these practices in his own garden, and the results were undeniable.

Rudy has hosted Biodynamic educational events and was part of the International Biodynamic Viticulture Group.  He is a mentor for biodynamic farmers and vintners in Oregon and beyond.

Beckham Estate Vineyard,

Willamette Valley Oregon

Andrew Beckham is a potter, a teacher, and a winemaker.  He and his wife Annedria found this property in the Chehalem Mountains of Oregon’s Willamette Valley to build an art studio and home in 2004.  Andrew was teaching art at nearby Beaverton High School, and they intended to have a studio for him to work in and a home to raise a family with a garden.

They quickly got to know neighbors who were growing grapes and fell in love with the idea of growing some themselves.  That expanded into the now having ½ of their 34 acres planted to wine grapes.  They farm organically. Their children and animals roam the property, and they want it to be safe.  They have also included many biodynamic principles in their farming.  The idea of animals grazing and the property becoming a holistic system, integrated and working together, is important to them.  After 2012 they moved to no-till farming.

Annedria was leafing through a wine trade magazine during this journey and came across an article on Elizabetta Foradori. The article had a picture of the woman surrounded by these beautiful terra cotta vessels in her cellar.  When she showed the article to Andrew, he said, “I can make those.”  The rest, as they say, is history.

Andrew founded Novum Ceramics and became the first commercial producer of Winemaking Amphorae in the country.  Multiple winemakers use his amphorae, and he has a waiting list for these beautiful vessels.

Syncline Winery,

Columbia Gorge

On the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge AVA, Syncline Winery sits on the Steep Creek Ranch Vineyard.  James Mantone and his wife Poppie made their first vintage in 1999.  They had met a few years before in the Willamette Valley, where they worked together at a custom crush house.  They moved to the Columbia Valley and found this property in 2003.  They now have 17 acres of estate vineyards.

James speaks of the “tortured topography” of the gorge, and they sit where the gorge transitions from the cool marine influence to the high desert climate.

The vineyards they farm are farmed with biodynamic and organic philosophies and practices.  They work to feed the microorganisms in the soil, nurturing native plants as cover crops and using organic compost.

He and Poppie have been involved in biodynamics for over 20 years. They do it for themselves, their family, & their work environment.

Farming is meaningful work for them.  James told me when we visited “Food and beverage should do more than just provide fats, carbs, and protein.”  I couldn’t agree more.