Winderlea Journal
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Waiting For The Sun
Things to do while waiting for the sun to come out. I’ve written a couple of times about how little sun we’ve gotten this year. In terms of accumulated heat units, we are tracking behind the coolest vintage this century. And it’s been grey and rainy - 50.9" of...
48 Inches of Rain
The weather this year has been so strange. It’s been wet, very wet and cool. Usually we get 30 - 35 inches of rain annually. Since October 1st, our weather stations are showing we’ve already received almost 49 inches. Typically by now we would have somewhere in...
White Wines Anytime
Growing up in New England, you didn’t dare wear white pants or white shoes until after Memorial Day. I find I had a similar switch that went off right about now that led me to white wines, and a good deal of Rosé until the Fall. However, Bill and I were struck over...
About Our Wines
In the early 90s we fell in love with Pinot noir. Its elegance and sensuality – and the beautiful way it paired with a range of foods delighted us. As we tasted through wines from across the country we found the characteristics we most loved in Oregon Pinot noir. We...
Our Roots
When we made the decision to refocus and relocate our lives to Oregon, our driving ambition was to grow and make Pinot noir. We’ve told our story thousands of times. Our favorite grape was Pinot noir and our favorite American Pinot noirs came from the Willamette...
Winderlea Grafts Block 5
A lot has happened in the vineyard over the last week. We replanted one of our Legacy blocks at the top of the vineyard, replacing the 45 year old own rooted Pommard with like Pommard on root stock. We hope to start to harvest those new plantings in the 2024...
Winderlea & Oregon Wine Month
May is Oregon Wine Month and while it seems every month and day is accounted for by one group or another, this one is very symbolic of the industry we are in. Many of you know our story about chasing Pinot noir to Oregon. We knew this is where we needed to be to...
April Hail Brings May Flowers… Wait What!
For two days in a row now I’ve watched (fortunately) tiny hail fall from the sky and in to our vineyard. It doesn’t appear to have caused any damage but I have not yet done a full survey of our vineyards. We have started bud break and and some buds are showing leaf...
Budbreak Arrives at Winderlea
"Budbreak”: the glorious time of the year when the vines wake up from their winter dormancy. For those more curious about what causes budbreak, it is stimulated as soil temperatures rise, osmosis causes water to be drawn upward into the plant through the xylem. This...
The Great Escape
Since Saturday I’ve had the Thin Lizzy song “Jailbreak," rolling around in my head. This is not a common phenomenon even if the song was released my first year in college. But, as you may suspect, there is a story. Over the past month or so, we have shamelessly...
Winderlea Celebrates B Corp Month
As I write this, most of us at Winderlea are engaged in finalizing our application to be re-certified as a B Corp. It seems fitting then that March is B Corp Month, when the B Corp community comes together to celebrate, “People using business as a force for good.”...
This Week at Winderlea Feb 3, 2022
The sheep have settled in quite well and seem to be adapting to their new surroundings easily. In one week, they have done a pretty thorough job of grazing the 4+ acres of ground cover they occupy and will shortly be moved to another part of the vineyard. Pruning is...