EILEEN VINEYARD

Our Estate lies due East of an area in the Coastal Mountain Range called the Van Duzer Corridor, which funnels cool air from the Pacific Ocean into the Willamette Valley contributing to winds that can reach 20-25 mph during the growing season. The wind here has a fairly dramatic effect on the vines and the resulting wines. As the wind speed really picks up causes the vines to slow down its photosynthetic processes and the vines tend to grow very slowly, yet also very consistently. The wind also can lead to slightly more tough skins in an other wise thin skinned Pinot Noir grape which can help result in more structured and powerful wines coming from Eileen Vineyard.

There is a yin and yang to Eileen that creates rather natural and intentional harmony and balance in the wines coming from the more red fruit elements coming from the deepest Jory soils and highest elevations where the temperatures are most cool, balanced by the structure from the stem inclusion and skin tannin from the windswept rows and the dark, focused and concentrated wines being made from some of the shallowest most stony Witzel soils of our Estate. What a site, really. Deep volcanic soil, shallow volcanic soil, SE facing, Due East facing, 540 feet to 740 feet, cool ocean winds, huge diurnal shift, natural acidity, long hang time; this vineyard has it all and is now producing some of our greatest wines of the vintage.

We have been producing a single vineyard wine from Eileen Vineyard since the 2000 vintage and as of recently, maybe now that the vines are deeper and older producing something even more intense and complex, the wines are becoming the most awarded and sought after Pinot Noirs we make. And for us in the cellar, the recent vintages of 2013, 2014, and 2015 were some of the best wines we made as a company in those years. What’s more is the potential for Eileen Vineyard as we move into the next 5-10 years as we are developing another ten acres of land that will produce in just a few years time. The soil we are expanding to will be some of the most windswept areas of the Estate with a direct view of Van Duzer Corridor directly adjacent to Temperance Hill Vineyard near the very top of the Eola Hills.