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Hyland Vineyard began planting in 1971 by four pioneering friends with own-rooted Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling & Gewurztraminer that now totals 185 acres. Located in the McMinnville AVA of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Hyland Vineyard is the largest contiguous and second oldest single vineyard site in Oregon. The Hyland Vineyard is LIVE Certified Sustainable. The LIVE Certified Sustainable Wine logo on a bottle is your assurance of sustainably produced, authentic Northwest wine.
In 2007, the property changed hands to new caretakers led by Laurent Montalieu who felt that this vineyard had to be left wild and untamed. He wanted the land to speak in its own voice, adopting a "land not hand" philosophy. The block, the elevation, the growing season and the individual expression of every vine is present in the glass. Quiet and self-sufficient, the vines produce a textually mature, high-concentrated juice that come with decades of establishing oneself firmly into the land. This is Hyland Estates.
Stretching southwest from the city of McMinnville, the AVA with the same name covers about 40,000 acres across 20 miles until it meets the Van Duzer Corridor. This corridor is the only break in the Coast Range whose gap allows the cool Pacific Ocean air to flow eastward into the Willamette Valley.
The Pacific's moderating winds hit McMinnville’s south and southeast facing slopes where cool-climate varieties—namely Pinot noir and Pinot blanc thrive on ridges at between 200 to 1,000 feet in elevation.
Soils here are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loam and silt, with alluvial formations; McMinnville receives less rainfall than its neighbors to the east because it is situated in the rain shadow of the Coast Range.
Gewürztraminer, an expressive and aromatically distinctive white grape variety, is considered a noble variety in the Alsace region of France, and produces wonderful wines in the mountainous Alto Adige region of NE Italy. Generally this grape grows well in cooler regions and its natural intensity makes it a great ally for flavorful cuisine such as Indian, Middle Eastern or Moroccan. Somm Secret—Because of a charming perfume and tendency towards slight sweetness, Gewürztraminer makes for an excellent gateway wine for those who love sweet wines but want to venture into the realm of drier whites.