RIVERSIDE VINEYARD

Riverside Vineyard lies on a hillside overlooking the beautiful Yamhill River, just outside of McMinnville. After planting vineyards, producing grapes, and making wine in the Willamette Valley for over 20 years, Buddy Beck and others noticed that some Oregon Pinot Noirs were tasting a lot alike. These wines were high alcohol due to the limited number of clones used to produce them as well as the fact that high-sugar-containing Dijon clones were selected. They also found that flavors were being compromised in the wines due to accelerated ripening in the warm Oregon vineyards.

Riverside vineyard was planted as a trial for testing different clones of Pinot Noir, comparing the standard clones of Pommard, Wadenswil, and Dijon with Heirloom clones that had a history of making outstanding wine in other areas like California. Some of the clones had produced great wines, but were not grown commercially due to low yields by California standards. Other Pinot clones had previously been introduced to Oregon with high regard but had been pushed aside with the introduction of the Dijon clones in the early 1990s. Each vintage only continues to reveal the potential of these new clones, retaining the natural acidity of the wines, layered with flavor and texture.