White Oak Orchard and Vineyard
From John, June 8th, 2021
Julian & Leila picking cider apples
One of the longtime strengths of the Oregon Wine Industry has been our parade of dynamic characters. And Alan Foster, the owner of White Oak Orchard qualifies for this list. Alan started planting one of the finest cider apple orchards in Western America in 1989 using budwood from Cornell University which was augmented along the way with material from England and Normandy. He later added Perry Pears from the germ plasm repository in Corvallis as well as from old trees in Southern Oregon.
But Alan, as is his way, was far ahead of the curve and the market for fine English-style cider was weak. So in 2006, he ripped out a portion of the trees (he says “not the best trees”) and planted just under 2 acres of Pinot noir and 2/3 of an acre of the noble Nebbiolo grape variety. The soil at White Oak is marine sediment in origin so strikingly different from what is found at both Clos Electrique and Abbey Ridge.
For over 10 years Cameron has been buying all of Alan’s fruit for our Ribbon Ridge Pinot noir and part of our Nebbiolo blend.
When the tiny 2020 vintage arrived, our son Julian Paul decided that it was time to try making traditional cider and perry from Alan’s legendary cider orchard. While the work is in progress as of this writing, we will soon be releasing Julian’s first creative endeavor in the world of cider.
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2019, A Treasured Vintage
Every so often a vintage comes along which is so special that it is not to be missed. 2019 was one of those years!
There’s More... >Silent Fall
One of our fall rituals has traditionally been battling songbirds, who arrive in the vineyard en masse in October to feast on our newly ripened grapes. But climate change and catastrophes in our environment have started to take their toll on our feathered friends. This year there was no need for bird deterrents, large migrations of robins and cedar waxwings over our vineyard seem to have disappeared.
There’s More... >Introducing Cidre 2020
We thought 2020 would be an excellent year to embark on a new fermentation endeavor: making traditional cider from Alan Foster’s legendary White Oak cider orchard. The result is a dry cider with a round fruity body that dances on your tongue with apple tannins and a liesy finish and a nose filled with aromas of apple blossom and roses!
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