Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/230154
NORTHWEST WATCH SEAN P. SULLIVAN acres to the company's burgeoning portfolio, bringing its total holdings in Oregon to nearly 600 acres. Though only 30 acres at Yamhela are currently planted, the company said it plans to expand to 120 acres over the next five years. IDEAL TIMING The increased interest in Oregon appears, in part, to result from a number of recent industry trends and pressures. On the one hand, there is the ever-increasing American consumption of wine, which has continued unabated since the 1990s. On the other, there is inability to meet this demand domestically, and expanding costs in California. "In California, you see increasing cost of land, the cost of farming is astronomical, and there's less land available for grape planting," said Steve Thomson, executive vice president of Oregon's King Estate Winery. "There are also big issues for water rights and water availability. If I was managing Jackson, I would certainly be concerned about the future of that." In contrast, a majority of Oregon's vineyards are dry-farmed. At the same time, interest in pinot noir – Oregon's signature grape – continues to grow in the marketplace. And while the state has firmly established its reputation as a top-quality producer, land remains undervalued. "If you look at the high end of prices being paid for vineyard land in Oregon, we're well below what you'd pay in Sonoma or Mendocino, so it's still a relative value," said Kevin Chambers of OVS, a vineyard supply company located in Willamette Valley. (He sold his Resonance Vineyard to Jadot.) "So we have this enviable position of being able to sustain relatively high © 2013 StaVin Inc. For over twenty years we've searched the world to source the very finest oak known to wine. Our hikes through numerous forests in countries on two continents have yielded findings some winemakers consider treasure. Such travels have shown us the rewards of perseverance, and the importance of variety. Because even the most delicious wines rarely taste the same. ® Steve Thomson of King Estate points out that Oregon doesn't have the same issues as California in terms of high land costs and water availability. w w w. v w m m e d i a.com StaVın Inc, P.O.Box 1693, Sausalito,CA 94966 (415) 331-7849 f (415) 331-0516 stavin.com J a n - Feb 2014 | V INE YA RD & W INE RY M AN A G EM EN T 27