It all starts with the grapes. You’ve got to have great grapes to make great wine. We are farmers, so that we can be winemakers!

As the Oregon summer begins to wane into fall, our grapes begin to gather sugars and flavors as they ripen. Depending on the weather (historically we've had variable autumns, with coolness and rain, but since 1998 it seems each year has been hotter and drier than the previous one) we begin to plan for picking. Each day we closely monitor the developing ripeness of our grapes. We do this in many ways—including how the grapes feel between our fingers and how they taste to us picked off the vine.

Sugar is only part of the equation. We measure the amount of sugar in our grapes using a handheld refractometer (as Craig here demonstrates). While this is an important indicator of developing ripeness, it is by no means the only one. Firm and resistant grapes in the hand means they have plenty of juice, but it still may be a little early to pick. When the grapes are supple and very slightly giving, it means they're beginning to lose some water, thereby concentrating flavors, and they may be getting close to time to pick. We also take grape samples to our kitchen-lab and test for acidity and pH—but most important of all, we taste the grapes pulled off the vine. When all the measurements and personal judgement (and maybe even the planets) all line up—especially the depth and complexity of flavors—we know it's time to harvest.

Hand harvesting is the only way to go. When the time is right, we designate which blocks need to be picked and when to do it, then we and our crews go through the designated vine rows hand cutting each individual cluster and placing them in small yellow food grade plastic bins (FYBs, as they are sometimes called . . .). These bins are lined up along the ends of each row, and Morgan and Craig (sometimes with the help of friends) drive our old pickup along the rows until it is filled to the rim with bins. All of this work is normally done in the early morning, when the air is still cool and the grapes are less likely to start deteriorating. Speed is important, but no less important than careful picking.

Our Morgan-Powered winery is something to see! As the pickup is unloaded of its bins a miniature firebrigade hands each Pinot laden bin to Morgan, who methodically dumps the contents into our crusher/destemmer (except for that portion of the harvest designated for whole cluster fermentation). Rotating tines and a perforated drum neatly remove the grapes from their stems, dumping the raw material (now called "must") of our wines into larger white bins. When he tires of bin dumping, Morgan moves to must shovelling. By hand, he transfers the must into either wooden or stainless steel fermenters. It may not be a fancy process, but it truly is "hands-on" winemaking!

Wooden fermenters impart unique qualities to our wines. A good portion of our wines are fermented in wood, giving a richer, deeper complexity to the final wine. Likewise, much of our wine is fermented as whole clusters, stems and all, to add more structure and character. This is not "normal" winemaking in the Willamette Valley, but it is the way we like to do things (and the way our customers like us to do things, as well!). We also don't go in for rigidly controlling fermentation temperatures—we prefer to let the grapes do what they naturally want to do, acting only out of necessity if some element of the fermentation gets out of balance.

Unfiltered, unfined, is the only way to go in order to deliver the true essence of our vineyards, and the pure pleasure of Pinot noir. We do not spend all of our energies on growing great grapes and making great wines only to strip them of their character through the necessarily harsh process of fining and filtering! We achieve our clarity and purity by careful winemaking and long ageing in new and one-to-two year old French oak barrels. This oak regimen also adds many nuances of character and style to our Burgundian wine, helping us create the unique Broadley style that so many of you savor.