A
version of this was originally published in the First Alternative
Thymes in December, 1997. See update at the end.
As a young bride in the early 1970s,
Margy Buchanan tested her first recipe calling for wine: marinating
budget cuts of steak in Burgundy. “It tasted awful,” she said.
The granddaughter of a charter member of the Oregon Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, she'd not so much as whiffed alcohol growing up.
However, a cup of hot spiced wine at a party proved pleasant and
before long Gallo Hearty Burgundy appeared on the table when
spaghetti was served.
The Buchanans' wine palate was
awakening.
The idea of making their own wine was
conceived during a trip Dave and Margy Buchanan took to California's
Napa Valley in the early '70's. It wasn't just the wine they were
attracted to, but the whole aesthetic of the grape-growing and
wine-making lifestyle. It involved beauty, skill, agriculture,
challenge, study, art, adventure, science, people – all the
elements of a good life. As it happened, they were seeking new crops
for the Buchanan family farm they had recently bought from Dave's
mother. Margy had given up teaching to work the farm and raise their
two children while Dave worked as a fish biologist, first for Oregon
State University, then for Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.
Oregon had yet to become known as
world-class wine country, so the Buchanans had no idea if their
secret dream to start a winery was laudable or laughable.
Planting a legend
The Buchanans planted their first 1/4
acre of vines in 1974 and made their first wine from those grapes in
1979. “No matter how many books you read about making wine, it's
always nice to talk to an expert,” Dave said. Fortunately, one has
just joined OSU as research oenologist and wine-making instructor.
Barney Watson is also the OSU Extension Specialist for the entire
Oregon wine industry. Through hours of conversation, a friendship was
born. “Our 1979 wine wasn't all that great, Dave said, “but our
1980 wine, a Pinot Noir, was really good, and Barney sensed that our
area had some potential. Grapes require more than soil. They depend
on the location and micro-climate.”
Turns out, Dave's great grandfather
chose a perfect grape-growing spot when he bought the farm from its
homesteaders in 1885. Today, six acres of grapes grow on a hillside
with good drainage and protection from frequent frosts. “Air
drainage is important too;” Margy said, “we get more breeze than
even Inavale school, a mile away. This year was a good example of how
important that is. We could have lost all our grapes to bunch rot.”
“Good air drainage and canopy
management are what make our grapes the best,” Dave added,
describing the hand-pruning they and a cadre of friends do several
times a year. They also “drop clusters” (cut clusters of grapes
off shortly before harvest) to intensify flavor and aid air
circulation. It's like thinning apples. “Rather than producing six
tons of grapes to the acre, like our land would probably like to do,
we produce about 2 1/2 tons.”
Pinot Partners
The friendship with Barney Watson soon
led to a business relationship. Tyee wine cellars is actually a
partnership of Dave, Margy, Barney and his wife, Nola Mosier. Barney
makes the wine, Nola handles the business aspects, Margy does the
marketing, and Dave manages the vineyard. About two-thirds of the
grapes that go into Tyee wines come from other Willamette valley
vineyards, such as Temperance Hill north of Salem, Helmick Hill north
of Corvallis, Wren Vineyards near Kings Valley, and Croft Vineyards
near Dallas.
The Tyee partners planted their first
commercial grapes in 1981 and made their first wine in 1985, the same
year the Buchanan farm became a Century Farm.
What's in a Name
Tyee is a Native American trading word
that encompasses the concepts of great, best, chief, and biggest. “It
always gives you focus,” Margy said. It was used so much in Margy's
family that her uncle, an avid fisherman from Albany, had license
plates that read TYEE. “In British Columbia, when you catch a
Chinook salmon over 25 pounds they call it a Tyee.”
Northwest Indian culture is reflected
on Tyee bottle labels, as well, in artwork by James Jordan, who is
part Crow Indian and a native of Oregon. Most images represent a
different Northwest Indian legend, except the Canada goose.
Saving Soil and Streams
Perhaps it's because he's a fourth
generation Oregonian, or because he's a fisheries biologist, Dave is
passionate about protecting Willamette Valley soils, be it farmland
from urban development or topsoil from being washed into streams and
rivers. “We tend to forget how valuable our soil is in the hustle
and bustle of our everyday lives, but we need to protect it,” he
said. “We all need the food it produces. Even so-called marginal
farmland is valuable because that's what grapes can be grown on, and
it produces nice trees, too. If the soil is good and stays intact,
then the streams will stay intact, too, because the streams carry off
the soil or excess pesticides the soil has to deal with.”
Beaver Creek runs through the Buchanan
farm and is one reason the vineyard at Tyee was recently certified
Salmon Safe by the Pacific Rivers Council (PRC). While there are no
salmon in Beaver Creek, there are cutthroat trout, a close relative.
“They're just as sensitive as salmon,” Dave said. “Both require
good water quality and cool temperatures, so it's like an indicator
species.” Like many vineyards, Tyee's grapes are on a hillside from
which soil would run off into Beaver Creek, were it not for the grass
they planted between their rows of grapes. Traditionally, grapes are
grown on bare, rocky soil, but the PRC recommends alternative methods
to minimize pesticide use and reduce soil erosion. “We planted
low-growing hard fescue because it chokes out blackberries and poison
oak but doesn't get so tall it competes with the grapes. When it
rains hard, sediment won't run into the creek.”
The PRC certification, which allows
Tyee to use the Salmon-Safe logo on their wines, also recognizes the
riparian zone that generations of Buchanans have nurtured. During
their stewardship, 130 of the 460 acres composing the farm have been
left as natural wetlands and woodlands, attracting a rich variety of
birds and wildlife. Winery visitors in summer are invited to hike the
1 1/2-mile trail the Buchanans have created to enjoy the area and its
inhabitants.
Big World, Small Winery
Tyee Wine Cellars draws visitors from
all over the world, according to the guest book. “When the door
opens to our tasting room, it's like opening a door unto the world,”
Margy said. “You don't know who you'll be talking to, where they
come from, what their philosophy is. No one who comes into the
tasting room is in a hurry. We can get into long, involved
conversations and the next people who come in add to it. It's like a
pot of stew.”
The Tyee partners plan to keep the
winery small and family-centered where everything is done by hand,
from growing the grapes to attaching labels to the bottles. Their
distributors are all small-scale also, taking their wine into small
shops and fine restaurants nationwide.
Dave and Margy's daughter, Merilee, in
the honors college at the University of Oregon, is writing her thesis
on what she plans to do with the family farm someday. “Each
generation has done something different and what's good for the
time,” Margy said, describing a variety of crops and animals who
grew there until she and Dave planted grapes and a 30-acre filbert
orchard. The diversity has kept it in fine shape, ready for the next
generation. The sense of community is palpable, stretching from the
time Kalapooia Indians camped there, to the neighbors who gathered to
replace the barn lost in a fire when Dave was 10 years old, to the
visitors today. It's a community that includes teetotalers from
children and wildlife to adults who simply don't care for alcohol.
I suspect even Margy's grandmother
would be proud of Tyee Wine Cellars and its place in our community.
Update: Merilee Buchanan Benson is
now Tyee's Winemaker and Vineyard Manager (and a mother, herself),
and doing a prize-winning job! Dave and Margy still live and work at
the heart of this ever-thriving special place for people and
wildlife. See what's happening now at: www.tyeewine.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment