THE VINEYARD

When we saw Benton-Lane vineyard for the first time we thought we had won the lotto. It was an old sheep ranch called Sunnymount, and we learned the name was due to a mountain to the west that protected the ranch from winter storms. This mountain carves the rain clouds sending them south and north while the ranch is bathed in sun.

The elevations for our vineyard are perfect.  The vineyard begins well above the fog of the Willamette Valley, and ends well below the wind line, where high winds impair ripeness.  The land slopes gently to the south and east so the chilly air drains off instead of frosting the vines.  The earth is made up of well-drained brick red soils.  These soils drain quickly after a rain so the vines don’t sit in water, but instead search for it, and in the process, uncover new areas of nutrition.  The drainage is so good that we can usually be on the tractor the day after a big rain.

If you have ever been to Napa, you have seen the beautiful vineyards, rows and rows of vines without a weed or blade of grass in site - they look great.  The way you get such a beautiful vineyard is to use large amounts of chemical pre-emergent to poison the soil under the vine so nothing will grow.  I know because I used to have a vineyard in Napa and I was one of the idiots poisoning my dirt.  When I arrived in Oregon a colleague said I should read about michoriza.  These are little fungi that chew up organic material so the vine roots can assimilate the nutrients.  They were trying to help my vines and I had been poisoning them.  So I learned how to help these little guys.  We learned that bio-diversity helps them prosper so we planted lots of beneficial plants in the vineyard including crimson clover, vetch, English peas, oats, fava beans, annual rye and legumes.  Then we disc them into the soil.  Soon we saw our vines get healthier.  The leaves became bright green, they began to grow more actively and diseases seemed to have less effect over them.  Our vineyard was much uglier but much healthier.

Benton-Lane has designed its own system for caring for its land which incorporates the best parts of the Sustainable, Organic and Bio-dynamic methods.  This program was designed after seven years of certification under the LIVE sustainability program.  During this time we began to realize that no one program was ideal in preserving and protecting our land.  So we took the best parts of each program, added some measures of our own and gave birth to our own system of ensuring the health of our vineyards.

 Bio Dynamic 

Organic

We embrace the concept of keeping the vineyard as natural as possible.  We use mineral oil as a mildecide.  We control road dust so we don’t have a mite problem. We have hawk perches to reduce rodent populations. However, the organic method was developed at a time when available pesticides were harsh.  Since then manufacturers have developed synthetics that are much more earth friendly on the land than some organic counterparts.  We believe it is better for our land to use soft fungicides like Elevate, with a soil half life of only one day instead of the organic recommendation of toxic heavy metals.

Sustainable

 
We allow for large areas of native habitat for eco compensation areas as prescribed by LIVE.  We also control erosion by growing cover crops and rocking drainage ways.  We believe in the requirements of Integrated Pest Management to ensure that any crop applications reach the target area only and in the correct amount and at the right time. However, Sustainable certification prohibits grazing as a means of mowing and yet we think using sheep to mow our grasses fertilizes the land, reduces soil compaction and saves fuel.

We use compost to rejuvenate our soils.  Our compost is a proprietary blend of grape skins, seeds and stems, peppermint, rock dust, manure and estate soil.  We cook the compost until these components have fumated into a dark powdery humus.  We then incorporate it into the soil to replace the nutrients that the crop may have depleted.

We practice extensive canopy management.  We shoot thin to open up the canopy, we remove crop and leaves to open the fruit zone to light and air.  This reduces the need for pesticides and produces more flavorful fruit.

We use a cover crop of Austrian winter peas, oats, fava beans, annual rye and crimson clover to reduce erosion, build biomass and a rich, fertile soil humus.

Surrounding our 140 acre vineyard are 175 acres of native vegetation that serves as a habitat for wildlife, insects and native plants.