Cameron Winery -- sustainably farmed, non-irrigated, Oregon pinot noir and chardonnay

With 10 different clones and a nutrient-deficient vineyard site, Clos Electrique has always yielded wines of complexity and funk. In 2007 we began a program of carefully composting all of our pressings together with chipped up vineyard prunings, a bit of organic cow manure from across the river and covering with the straw bedding from our goats. In the Fall, after maturing for a year, we began to apply the limited compost that we had made to the most nutrient-deficient parts of the vineyard. In addition, we built a chicken tractor (and were given a second by the kind people at Lange Vineyards) and so began a program in which our 11 chickens could scrape and scratch and poop in a different section of the vineyard each day. While the effects on the vineyard are small but noticeable, the input of a small amount of nutrient becomes unmistakable starting with the 2009 vintage of Clos Electrique Rouge. The wine is still startlingly complex but the funk-factor is diminished and, dare I say, a certain elegance starts to show in the aromatics of black cherries, dried cranberries and mushrooms.  Less than 150 cases were produced, so availability is extremely limited.