Tag Archives: oregon wine

Homemade Wine Review: My Own Field Blend And 2019 Harvest Report

Posted on November 9, 2020 by waywardwine

2019’s harvest did not go as planned. Still, I managed to squeeze out a wine from my backyard experiment vines. Watch my review of it here: Continue reading →

Posted in OENOLOGICAL ODYSSEY, Pinot Noir, Riesling, White | Tagged 2019, chardonnay, drink, field blend, harvest, harvest report, home winemaking, Oregon, oregon wine, pinot blanc, Pinot meunier, pinot noir, riesling, travel, Tualatin, vineyard, viticulture, Wayward Wine, White wine, Willamette Valley, wine, wine review, winemaking | 1 Comment

Hiyu Wine Farm: Oregon’s Sustainable Utopia in the Columbia Gorge

Posted on September 25, 2020 by waywardwine

JancisRobinson.com recently finished their summer 2020 Wine Writing Competition (WWC20) and published 75 entries on Sustainability Heroes in the wine industry. I was honored to have all three of my submissions published. Although, I did not win the final, one made it onto the shortlist. For your re-reading pleasure, I will re-publish each over the following days.

If sustainability needs mascots, Nate Ready and China Tresemer would fit perfectly. In floppy hats, with Nate’s druidical beard and China’s proud grin, they grow the most complete whole farm vineyard on Oregon’s northern fringe: the Columbia Gorge. Their minimal approach at Hiyu Wine Farm makes Biodynamics look conventional. Here, native plants grow higher than vines, animals seem to do more work than people, and you almost forget this is viticulture. Nate admits that they are “trying to nudge the system as close as possible to a wild system, and it isn’t a wild system, but we try to make agriculture look a little more like nature”.[1]Any visit confirms this. Continue reading →

Posted in Oregon, Uncategorized, WINERIES WANDERED | Tagged biodynamic, Columbia Gorge, Hiyu, Hiyu Wine Farm, Oregon, oregon wine, Organic, pinot noir, Restaurant, Sustainable Wine, wine, Wine Club, Winery | Leave a comment

Looking Beyond Local #MWWC12 Troon, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Applegate Valley, Oregon 2008

Posted on October 16, 2014 by waywardwine

We in the West with more money than sense have made religion out of things local. Like buying indulgences, that carrot at your farmer’s market or grandma’s un-labeled jam makes us feel like we have done our part.

Delicious or dangerous, buying local frees us of our carbon-footprint guilt.

OK, directing money back into the native economy slices out the middle-person. Yes, things grown from the same soil, sun, waters, and hands tend to synchronize well with similar products (see terroir). Continue reading →