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Temperance Hill Vineyard is a 100 acre vineyard made up of roughly
20 different blocks of wine grapes. The site itself is 200 acres
(lots of room to grow) in the west Eola Hills, just west of Salem,
Oregon. It has an elevation range of 660 to 860 feet making it
a cool, late site; excellent growing conditions for Pinot Noir.
The soils are predominantly Nekia, Rittner and Jory. The site
is thought to be the remnants of an ancient volcano and grapes
are planted on many different slopes with varying exposures.
80% of the vineyard is planted in Pinot Noir, the rest is made
up of Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris. The oldest vines
at Temperance were planted in 1980 and 81 and are on a hanging
trellis system. The more recent plantings of Dijon clone material
are on a single upright vertical trellis system. The latest plantings are |
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on a single arm Guyot system and have 1550 vines per acre.
Some of the blocks in the latest planting are Dijon clone Pinot
Noir and some are Pommard clone.
Since Dai took over management in 1999 the vineyard has been
farmed in accordance with Oregon Tilth Organic Certification standards.
All materials used in the vineyards are OMRI (Organic Materials
Review Institute) certified or Tilth approved. He uses mechanical
cultivation rather than herbicides and usually does two jobs at
once, like mowing while in-row cultivating, to increase the efficiency
of fuel and tractor use. All the handwork is done by a 13 man
crew, the core of which has been with Dai since 1999.
The target crop level for the pinot noir is two tons to the acre
and the fruit goes to 25 clients including Adelsheim, Beaux Freres,
Belle Vallee, Bergstrom, Chehalem, Elk Cove, Evesham Wood, JK
Carriere, Lange, Lumos, Mystic, Ortman Family, Panther Creek,
Pheasant Court, Portland Wine Co., R. Stuart & Co., Ransom,
St. Innocent, Stevenson-Barrie, Torii Mor, 720 Cellars and the
3 Fools. |
