Kristin Marchesi featured in Austin Woman Magazine

Follow link to the article Uncorked: Woman of the Willamette

July Fourth Weekend at the Estate

Bring a picnic to the Estate for soft grass, shade and perhaps a game of croquet overlooking our organic vineyards. Come inside and savor a wine flight selected from our seventeen "Red, White and True Oregon Wines," while enjoying live music and "The True Oregon Art" of Douglas Remington.

LIVE MUSIC
Sat, July 4 • 1–4pm Tim Troutman
Sun, July 5 • 1–4pm Gentle Rain

Montinore takes part in the Vinology series

Montinore is teaming up again with our fellow North Willamette Vintner members to both teach and learn in the Vinology educational series. Montinore Proprietor Rudy Marchesi offers a course called Organic & Biodynamic Viticulture: A Practical Guide. If you want to learn more about how wine grapes are grown, this is a great opportunity to learn.

Read more about the Vinology series here.

5/12

Read the article in the Oregonian on Biodynamics

"Biodynamic practices take root in Oregon wineries"
by Dana Tims, The Oregonian

"Rudy Marchesi began using biodynamic methods at Montinore Estate near Forest Grove not long after he began managing the 230-acre operation in 2001. Although scientific experiments designed to quantify biodynamics' results are scarce, Marchesi said he has seen considerable physical changes in his vineyards that he attributes directly to biodynamics."

4/29

2008, our first Biodynamic Certified Vintage

In 2001 we started converting our vineyard farming practices to organic methods. We took it one step at a time and with every year we saw improvements in vine health, soil structure and general vitality. In 2003 I enrolled in a 9 month course in Biodynamic farming at the Pfeiffer Center in New York and in the fall of 2003 we started implementing some of these practices on selected blocks of grapes with great results.

Since that time we have embraced these methods of farming and farm our entire 230 acres according to organic and Biodynamic standards. We had never thought much about getting certified since our main purpose was simply to grow better grapes and ultimately make better wines. With the growing interest in these practices among
wine lovers all over the country we received many inquiries as to whether we were certified either organic or Biodynamic. We quickly realized that certification separated those of us dedicated to farming and making wines in this way from those who just "talked the talk" for marketing purposes. So last year we applied and received organic and Demeter Biodynamic certification for both our vineyards and winery.

This spring you will see the addition of these certifications on our labels for the '08 vintage wines. We are very proud to add these certifications to our labels because it's a clear statement that we farm and make our wines in a way that we know not only produces better grapes and wines but is also better for our farm, all of us who work here and for our environment. We hope you are as pround as we are to serve this at your table.

-Rudy Marchesi

3/10/09

Montinore Dinner in Savannah, June 11, 2009

If your in the Savannah, GA area Thursday June 11th, don't miss a dinner with Kristin Marchesi at the Bull Street Chophouse. For more information or to make a reservation call (912) 232-2728.

3/9/09

A Great Loss

This is proving to be a difficult week for us. Lynn Robertson, a very important part of our close-knit crew, passed away over the weekend. It happened so suddenly that it still doesn't seem real.

As we slowly come to terms with her departure, we remember her most for her generosity, her keen intelligence and her love of animals. Our office will never be the same without her spirited personality, with which she filled every room she enered.

We will dedicate our bottling of our barrel-selected 2008 "Cataclysm" Pinot Noir to her, since she coined its name.

2/9/09

2008 Harvest Report

After farming vineyards on both coasts of the United States for over 30 years, Rudy Marchesi says he finally gets it. “When you have been growing grapes as long and in as many different regions as I have you start to realize that the vineyards have a consciousness of their own, as they are living organisms and Biodynamic® farming addresses that reality.” 

After establishing and farming vineyards on the east coast conventionally for 20 years, Marchesi assumed responsibility in 2001 for 230 acres at Montinore Estate, one of Oregon’s largest vineyards and wineries located in the northern Willamette Valley. Montinore is now one of only seven Demeter Certified wineries in Oregon, and with these new certifications will continue to bring high quality, lovingly made Biodynamically farmed wine to wine drinkers at a price they can afford. 
 
“It was clear to me that the vineyards were in decline, and pumping them full of synthetic fertilizers and herbicides was not going to bring health and vitality back into them,” Marchesi said.  “It was obvious we needed to take a different approach if we were going to make changes in both the vineyard health and the overall quality of our wine.” 

In 2001 Marchesi transitioned Montinore’s total property to organic farming methods, but he still felt like there was a piece missing.   Marchesi began to look further into alternative farming practices when he discovered a series of lectures by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner.  Feeling as though he may be onto something Marchesi enrolled in a year long Biodynamic® farming course at the Pfeiffer Center in New York.  After this course and several experiments with Biodynamic practices on his home vineyard and gardens, he was convinced that he could transform Montinore Estate’s vineyards.  In 2005 Marchesi began the transition of Montinore’s vineyards, culminating in a Demeter Biodynamic® Certification and Organic Certification in the summer of 2008.

Transitioning the Vineyards and Those Who Work Them
It is an accomplishment to transition 230 acres of vineyards from conventional farming to organic and Biodynamic certification, but it is an entirely different accomplishment to convert the hearts and minds of those who work the vineyards. 

“We are very fortunate to have a vineyard crew that has worked here an average of over 20 years,” says Marchesi, “and after all of that time, they couldn’t help but have a great sensitivity for the vines and this place.  It was because of their sensitivity and sense of propriety that I needed to communicate an understanding of Biodynamic farming to those who work the vineyards on a daily basis.”  Marchesi hired a Spanish speaking Biodynamic farmer and educator to work with his vineyard crew so that Steiner’s philosophies and principles could be discussed in the crew’s native tongue. 

“After several sessions the crew was as enthusiastic as I was," he said, "but the true test was how the vines responded to the farming changes. The first year or so we had some difficulty with the transition, but by the second year you couldn’t help but notice how the vineyards were changing.  Blocks that had produced standard fruit were beginning to be the new standouts, and those blocks that had struggled were now beginning to produce some real quality fruit.  It was an exciting time for all of us.  Now that the Biodynamic practices have been fully implemented we've seen definite visible changes in our vineyards; the increase of worms in the soil, cluster shape and berry size, the uniformity and health of the leaf canopy. Most importantly the increase in quality of the grapes and wine.” 

Winemaker John Lundy, who has worked at Montinore for over 10 years, agrees. “I have noticed a distinct difference in grape quality and the vine’s ability to handle adverse conditions.”

Marchesi  and the entire team at Montinore are looking forward to continuing as stewards of the land while watching the vineyards mature with the new health and vitality that Biodynamic farming brings.  With the new growing practices firmly in place,  Montinore plans to expand on their reputation of producing high quality, responsibly crafted wines.



New Label - New Look

Learn More
Click on the links below to find a listing of other wineries in the area:

www.willamettewine.com
www.northwillamettevintners.org
www.sip47.com


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