Smuggled!

Elise StimacGrowing, Travel Stories, Wine making, Wine Tasting

Three Feathers Pinot Noir first vintage visits the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

Smuggled! My adventure began on Saturday August 12 when I and my eleven case companions were taken from our distinguished labeled carton and stuffed into smelly suitcases full of human laundry.  What was happening? Were we being bottle-napped? After some bouncing and jostling and many hours of silence I felt a strange sensation of lightness, very cold and noisy. I … Read More

Lines on the Vines

Elise StimacGrowing, Vineyard

Vines and tendrils reaching upwards on their trellis wires on Th

2017 Vineyard Season Update We have been frantically busy since our last post about the vineyard at bud break in May.  I analogize the season in the vineyard to a horse race with us in a race to keep up with the pace of the vines as they grow.  There’s weeding and mowing, fertilizing and disease control and the perpetual … Read More

Living with the Wildlife

Elise StimacFarm Life, Wildlife

Nubian goats eating grass in their pen, Ford truck in background.

Living with the Wildlife Our Ford F-150 gets a lot of use during the growing season, but when it is idle, it is parked in a dry spot by our goat barn. Last summer we noticed an odor inside the cab; a faint odor of manure.  We checked our shoes, nothing.  As the odor persisted we looked further, under and … Read More

New Buds on Pinot Noir Grapevines

Elise StimacGrowing

Springtime buds on grape vines on Three Feathers Estate, Chehalem Mountain AVA, Yamhill County, Oregon, United States.

New Buds We go out frequently to see if the vines are coming to life. Today I could detect the tiniest little swelling on a new bud. We have had a record breaking winter of ice, snow, rain and mud with many slides in the valley.  With the coming of spring it has warmed a bit and we have had … Read More