To Our Vineyard... Love, Doug

“The course of true love never did run smooth.”

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Drink

Like many great loves, Brick House was born with a solemn vow: this farm would never contribute to the toxic pollution of the watershed I knew so well while growing up.

But keeping that promise wasn’t always pretty. My enduring devotion to the hillsides and swales included a measure of ignorance, a touch of frustration, desperation and occasional anger.

The first and most serious misstep happened long before I arrived on Ribbon Ridge. The farm’s soils had been defiled by years of the most toxic of agricultural chemicals. The fields were so depleted of microbial life that in the early years I wasn’t sure they would sustain our tender young vines.

I was still wrestling with the emotional toll of 20 years traveling the world documenting some of humanity’s nightmares. Thankfully, my head was also replete with memories of an almost Tom Sawyer-like boyhood on the banks of the Willamette River. Undeterred by inexperience, I certified all 40 acres as organic.

It soon became apparent that we - both the farm and I - needed help.

I managed to find it in the advice of several very experienced and generous growers. The vineyard relied, not surprisingly, on Mother Nature. It began to silently resonate to her eternal wisdom: “let it be…trust that time will purge the poisons” and it did. In 1993, we successfully produced our first commercial certified organic crop.

I can’t put my finger on exactly when. But after some time living and working together, I came to relish the smell of freshly turned earth, the texture of Biodynamic compost and the aroma of the vines’ tiny flowers at bloom. The vineyard shed the telltale remnants of herbicide residue. Its canopy grew tall and green…its fruit, ripe and balanced. Together we fought the annual battles against mildew and bunch rot, mites, and gophers…and we won.

And so the vineyard and I slipped into harmony with time. Interest grew into sincere affection. Understanding flourished into love for the way of life. And together we created wine; seductive, healthful, delicious…wine we love; wine that can only happen here.

-Doug Tunnell, Founding Winemaker and Owner