I was privileged to drive my colleague and friend Courtney McHill up to Soter Vineyards. The tasting room for Soter is difficult to find. There are no blue signs to guide you, no sign at the bottom of the hill where you turn off to the vineyard. There are no tasting room hours, and you can only taste there by appointment. They are not open to the public and, as far as I can tell, they do not advertise. It is a fascinating marketing approach! When we were there last week the grapes had not yet started to change colors. This process is called veraison, and for me it signals that summer is coming to an end and harvest can't be far off.
Courtney was meeting with a special couple who are going to be married at the vineyard. While she had her meeting, I strolled the vineyard with a glass of rose in hand. It is very nice to be met as you get out of your car with a beautiful glass of wine.
The vineyard workers are in the process of trimming the vines. If they didn't trim them off at the top the vines would produce only stems and leaves and very little fruit. The vineyards are designed for the vines to grow only so tall, and then to be cut off. The process us often times done with a machete, but at this vineyard they use a tractor with a fierce looking set of blades which trim both the tops and the sides of the vines.
There is a beautiful garden just to the side of the tasting room which grows veggies which the vineyard uses for dinners and special events. The tasting room is beautifully situated at the edge of the hill. The rear wall of the room opens so that the space flows from inside to outside. There are chairs on the covered porch where you can sit and enjoy a beautiful glass of Pinot Noir. The view looks west up the valley back towards McMinnville. It is the kind of place I love to sit and sip some wine and doodle in my journal.
The tastings are done by appointment only. Each group has it's own host who walks them through a wonderful selections of the estate wines. It is a really interesting way to promote a vineyard. Someday I'll have to make an official appointment and taste my way through all of their wines.
