Wines & Vines

WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 48 WINES&VINES February 2018 T he short story is that it was all inspired by an in- toxicating night in Rome. The long story is that it started with a unique piece of property and came to fruition with a great deal of expert help. First the short story: Doug and Dionne Irvine were traveling through Europe with their daughters and met friends from Seattle in Rome. The group enjoyed a long dinner with many bottles of wine, including several by the Gaja family. The Irvines owned an 80-acre ranch in southern Ore- gon—a property they purchased in 2001 after successful careers in Southern California real estate development— but wine was still relatively unknown to them. "We weren't really familiar with wine at the time, and I just loved it," Doug Irvine told Wines & Vines. "Well, we drank a bunch of Gaja that night and I go, 'Wow, this is great, I want to do this. This is the kind of wine we want to make.' " So, they went back to their property just outside of the city of Ashland in the Rogue River Valley AVA, planted a few acres in 2007 and formed Irvine Family Vineyards. The vineyard included a mix of varieties such as Tempranillo, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and a small block of Neb- biolo because of that inspiring night in Rome. "Everybody, everybody, said don't plant Nebbiolo, it won't work here," Irvine said. "And so, we planted the Nebbiolo and everyone was right; it didn't work, and it was horrible." Some varieties did thrive, however, and from that initial 4.5 acres of vineyards, the Irvines made some decent wine. By 2010 they were sharing it with friends and pouring it at community fundraisers held at their home. Those events were attended by some of the wine- makers in the area's small but growing wine industry. While the wines were passable, what really captured the winemakers' attention was the unplanted hillside that rose to the east of the Irvines' home. "They would say: 'Do you know what you have here? You really need to check that out. It's perfect for Pinot Noir and Chardon- nay,' " Irvine recalled. They did check it out, and the long story begins with the Irvines' decision to take the idea of a little vineyard and expand it into what would become a 56-acre estate winery focused on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay by drawing on the expertise of some of the best winemakers and the leading vineyard development company in Oregon. The Irvines received some initial help from Dr. Greg Jones (now of Linfield College), a climatologist who was with Southern Oregon University at the time. Jones helped with some soil analysis and recommended wine grape va- rieties for the couple to plant on the property. Ken Wright, founder of Ken Wright Cellars in the Willamette Valley to the north, also said they had a site with excellent potential, and they should go for it. "Whenever we had a question, he had the time to answer, and was encouraging and posi- tive," Doug Irvine said. After deciding to plant, the couple hired Results Partners to develop the property. The company is the largest vineyard management and development company in Oregon and has developed more than 3,000 acres of vineyards. Of the varieties from the first small vineyard, Pinot and Chardonnay seemed to do the best and were a sensible match for the east-facing hillside, which is around 2,100 Irvine & Roberts Vineyards Estate winery focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Southern Oregon By Andrew Adams TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT Located in the Rogue River Valley AVA of Southern Oregon, the Irvine & Roberts estate vineyard is planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

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