Youngberg Hill

Our goal is for life on the farm including the soil, the vines, and all other plant and insect life; to be healthier 50 years from now than it is today.
 
The vineyards are 20 total acres with three distinct blocks of Pinot Noir and one block of Pinot Gris. The Natasha block at 7 acres is the largest of the three Pinot Noir blocks at approx. 600 feet on marine sedimentary soil. The Jordan Pinot Noir block at 4 acres is on a steeper slope at an altitude of approx. 750 to 800 feet on volcanic rock. The Natasha block is 6 acres at 600 feet on marine sedimentary soil. Both blocks are own-rooted of 60% Pommard and 40% Wadenswil clones, planted in 1989. The Camelot block at 3 acres is between the other two blocks and therefore is a blend of the soils with a wide band a shale going through the middle: planted in 2008 of 777 on 10114 root stock. The Aspen Pinot Gris block has 148 and 152 clones on 3309 root stock at an altitude of approx. 525 to 600 feet planted in 2006. The vineyard is not irrigated.
 
The soils are complimented by distinct weather in these coast foot hills only 25 miles from the ocean providing a shadow for the weather coming from the ocean. This provides great precipitation, more sun days, cooler steady day temperatures, coastal breezes every afternoon, and cooler night temperatures excellent for growing pinot noir. This in turn produces extremely high quality fruit with rich, intense, black fruit flavors, earthy minerality, and higher acidity for structure and complexity in wines.
 
We practice organic and sustainable farming. Some of our current sustainable practices include reducing soil erosion through the planting of beneficial cover crops; safe, controlled spraying using soft pesticides such as biodegradable oils, soaps, and plant extracts, and conducting and participating in ongoing research on environmentally-friendly methods of pest control. Youngberg Hill has been aggressively pursuing the goal of 100% sustainability in its vineyard. In the 2005, Youngberg Hill Vineyard earned third party sustainable certifications for LIVE (liveinc.org) and Salmon Safe (salmonsafe.org) and in 2010 were certified by the Oregon Wine Board ‘Sustainable’. We are currently utilizing biodynamic farming practices with the intent on being biodynamically certified in a couple of years.