Hiyu, ‘Pandion’ Columbia Gorge (2022)

Hood River, Oregon— Sunshine, botanicals, ramen broth, fire roasted apricot, copper— Transcendental, site specific field-blend from a dryer, more Mediterranean micro climate of the farm…

“A field blend planted to Germanic varieties. It’s primarily Riesling and Furmint with smaller amounts of the grapes that would be grown in the vicinity of those varieties. This includes the Alsatian Cultivars like Muscat, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Sylvaner, but also more unusual Austrian and Hungarian grapes like Harslevelu, Gruner Veltliner and Rotgipfler. In a sense, it is our version of a Gemischter Satz the field blends made in the Wien, the wine district in the heart of Vienna. Just as these are served in the traditional wine bars in the outskirts of the city, this is the perfect wine to drink with the food we serve in the tavern, especially with the transcendent cuisine of winter.

This is the third vintage and easily the most textural and exotic release so far. In past vintages the Austrian cepage has tempered the Alsatian grapes tendency toward hedonism but in this cool vintage, the warm fall has brought out the latter’s deep color and honeyed spices. The wildly botanical and savory mineral qualities of the Hungarian cepage hide beneath. This wine was always embedded with the possibility of reflecting our interest in channeling the magical quasi-religious qualities possessed by the wines of Marcel Deiss and Nicolas Joly.”— Nate Ready

Hiyu is a 30 acre farm in the Hood River Valley. Guided by nature and inspired by ideas from biodynamics and permaculture we tend vines, raise animals, garden, cook and make wine to reveal an experience of place. The vines are planted in silt loam over basalt on a southeast facing hillside above the Hood River. Our site lies just 22 miles from the summit of Mt. Hood and the wines are shaped by the weather from the mountain. The place is closest in climate to winegrowing areas in the Alps; the Savoie, Valais and Valle d’Aosta. The property is composed of 14 acres of vines, 4 acres of field and pasture, .5 acres of market garden, 4 acres of forest and a pond. The rest of the acreage is in grounds that are being moved toward food forests. Outside a little work beneath the vines with a scythe, there is no mowing or tilling and any control of vegetation is done by the pigs, cows, chicken, ducks and geese that live with the vines during different parts of the year. We direct the diversity of plants on the site by seeding directly into the dense growth or behind the pigs as they root around in search of food. We make a single cut of the vines at pruning, but there is no hedging, green harvest, leaf pulling or other interruption of the vines growing cycle. We spray 85% less material than a typical organic or biodynamic vineyard. There is no sulfur used. The primary control of mildew is with cinnamon oil and the other sprays are mixed herbal teas. The plantings have as much biodiversity as the understory. The property is divided into half acre blocks, each planted to a field blend from a different moment in the genetic history of the grapevine. There are over 100 different varieties of grapes and many more clonal selections planted on the farm.