The owner’s story
It all started with a casual interest in wine that developed in the mid-90s while living in Texas. At that time I had noticed, from casual Internet surfing on the subject, that Pinot Noir was a big thing in Oregon.
In 1997 I accepted a job offer in Portland. Once settled in, I started a viticulture and wine making hobby with the purchase of a dozen Pinot Noir plants. This budding (sorry) interest got out of control when I attended a Fall viticulture class at Chemeketa college in Salem. That was followed by additional courses and a small planting of 80 plants in 2002/2003. Finally my wife and I decided to get serious about wine grape growing, I had completely succumbed to the viticulture bug that had, in hindsight, attacked me in Texas.
In short order I was able to find 10 acres of prime Willamette Valley land suitable for viticulture. Alas it was too expensive, I could not quite put the deal together. During my subsequent period of despair, along came my older brother (Bert) to the rescue with a “I wouldn’t mind investing in a vineyard” comment. Provincial Vineyards LLC was born on the spot.
Our first planting was 1 acre of Pinot Noir clone 777 on 3309 rootstock in the spring of 2004 followed by a second acre the following year of Pinot Gris. Subsequently we planted additional Pinot Noir (667 and Pommard clones). As of this writing (11/2009) we have bootstrapped our way to 3 producing acres and 50 cases of 2008 Pinot Noir.
2008 was our first crush for which we contracted with Apolloni Vineyards (winemaker Alfredo Apolloni). The release of this first crush of 2008 Pinot Noir, a blend of Dijon 777 and 667 clones was in the fall of 2009.
Our brand has evolved to be a focus on viticulture in the Oregon Willamette Valley with our wine produced by some of the most talented Oregon wine makers available via a custom-crush paradigm. Our labor of love is to get the best wine grapes achievable to these artisans to weave their magic. Try us, judge us, let me know what you think of our offering!
Neil Frederickson (neil@provincialvineyards.com)
The tasting room is closed
The vineyards
foothills; located at the northwest tip of the Willamette Valley AVA. The estate has an east slope orientation featuring early morning sunshine and rapid evening cool downs that frame its terror. A micro viticulture operation, it is 10 acres in size with 3 1/4acres in production (2 acres Pinot Noir, 1 Pinot Gris, 1/4 acre Gamay Noir). All grower best practices are carefully applied by the owner-members of Provincial Vineyards; Neil and Colleen Frederickson.
