ESTATE
VINEYARD
Illahe Vineyard was first planted in 2001 with 22 acres of pinot noir. Today it is a 50-acre vineyard with seven varieties and over 40 acres of pinot noir. When it is completely planted, we will have about 65 acres under vine. Illahe Vineyards also uses estate fruit from the Glenn Creek Vineyard in West Salem.
Varaties and Clones
Pinot noir: We have four clones of pinot in our various blocks: Dijon clones 777 and 115, Pommard, and Wadenswil 2A. These clones are the best match for our site and each carries a special aromatic tendency and composition that we want in our blends. All our vines are grafted to either 101-14 or 3309 rootstocks, which devigorate the scion.
Riesling: Planted in 2002 and 2004, the king of whites dominates the central upper two acres of the vineyard. We have four clones: 12, 2, 239, and the VanVolkinburg clone.
Pinot gris: We have one acre of gris at the Glenn Creek vineyard and three acres in their first year at Illahe.
Grüner veltliner: This Austrian cult classic takes up two acres at Illahe and was only in its third year in 2007. The variety’s high acidity will make grüner a perfect candidate for aging.
Tempranillo: Our acre of tempranillo has gone into a highly sought-after table wine at Evesham Wood and a dynamite port for Terrapin Cellars. This year will be the first year of port production for Illahe.
Lagrein: So far, our entire mature, one-acre production of Lagrein has gone to Remy Wines to form part of her list of Italian varietals. An unsung hero of northern Italy, this red is packed with color, tannin, and deep, sultry aromas.
Siegerrebe: Betty McKibben from neighboring McKibben Ranch has a monopole on the five-gallon production from our row of siegerrebe. In the future, Illahe may actually have enough of this wine to pour some of this sweet, aromatic, early-ripening hybrid of the north for visitors.
Viognier: Our viognier comes from Goschie Farms in Silverton and Plagmann Vineyards near Albany. Gail and Terry’s spectacular fruit enables us to craft a thoroughly enjoyable, action-packed wine.
Vineyard Site
Illahe Vineyard is planted on a south-facing slope. The slope ranges from about 4% near the bottom to over 20% near the top. The top of the vineyard is at 480 feet elevation, and the bottom 250.
Illahe is a warm site that experiences slightly earlier budbreak and flowering than many other vineyards in the Willamette Valley. The grapes achieve maturity even in cooler vintages. Two reasons for this are the southerly aspect of the vineyard and the moderate elevation. The vineyard also has excellent drainage during cold snaps, and it’s just to the south of the Van Duzer winds which begin in the late summer that cool other vineyards in the evening, slowing maturity.
The variety of soils on our property give the wine complexity. The overall character of the soil is that of Willakenzie-type sedimentary clay. The specific types include bellpine, wellsdale, dupee, and patches of jory. These types depend on soil depth and composition, which is mostly clay, silt, and loam.
Viticultural practices
Illahe is a LIVE-certified, Salmon Safe vineyard. We use cover crops on most of the vineyard. We do extensive green pruning and conduct plant topping. We prune by hand and harvest by hand. We use sulfur spray to control for powdery mildew and botrytis.
We aim for balanced production and optimal ripeness. This includes a program of minimal or no irrigation, leaf pulling to decrease shade, and dropping all green clusters after veraison. One of our goals at Illahe is to reduce the use of fossil fuels throughout the year. As we continue to develop, we hope to begin using horses at the vineyard.
WINERY
The winery, designed by Laurence Ferar and Associates, is 8000 square feet under the cover of an arched roof. It features three levels—two different drop-offs from the crush pad allow for gravity loading of fermentors and the press. Another drop-off from the fermentation room to the press level allows us to load the press baskets by hand. This area serves as a loading dock when we aren’t harvesting. The building’s west and north faces are buried in the hill which will stabilize the temperature during the year.
Features:
Gravity-fed vinification
Solar power
Rainwater harvesting
PHILOSOPHY
Defining our terroir with our wines
Wines both for daily enjoyment and cellaring
Winemaking with a team of dedicated winemakers
Excellent vineyard site with adventurous varietals
Time-honored production methods
Family-owned
Local energy
Elevage
Our barrel room, tucked into the side of the hill, houses our pinot noir in cool and humid conditions. We use mainly French oak, though we have a small selection of Oregon barrels.
We age all the pinot noir in barrel for at least nine months and the reserves for at least 16.
After racking and before nine months in barrel, Michael and Brad taste through the cellar together to select the reserve and grand reserve lots. They pick these wines based on aromatic potential, aging potential, and broad, pleasing palates, then combine their favorite clones and barrels for the most complex future wine. The 2007 reserve is 50% new oak and the grand reserve 100% new oak.
Vinification
Of course, our winemaking begins in the vineyard applying what we’ve learned from the wine in our barrels to the needs of the plants. But when it’s time for harvest, we make sure each cluster is treated carefully—if it makes the cut.
We harvest by hand and deliver the grapes to the winery in five-gallon buckets, eliminating all juicing and exposure to deleterious yeast and enzymatic degradation before proc essing. We hand-load the sorting table, where we take out unripe clusters or clusters with any damage.
From the sorting table, the grapes are usually destemmed and fall, whole berry, to the fermentation level. Some grapes skip the destemmer and enter fermentors for whole-cluster fermentation. They undergo a cold soak of up to six days, then begin fermentation either by inoculation of different varieties or natural yeast depending on the batch. Illahe uses over 40 fermentation vessels to increase complexity, and punches down the cap by tool and by foot.
From there, the finished product is drained and then scooped carefully down to the press level, leaving the lees and seeds behind. We press gently in a wooden basket press, only retaining enough tannin in pressing for aging.
Our whites are at times destemmed and soaked overnight and at times pressed whole-cluster. They are fermented cooly and slowly in stainless steel.