Rudy & Biodynamics Featured in the Oregonian

"Biodynamic practices take root in Oregon wineries"

by Dana Tims, The Oregonian

"Rudy Marchesi began using biodynamic methods at Montinore Estate near Forest Grove not long after he began managing the 230-acre operation in 2001. Although scientific experiments designed to quantify biodynamics' results are scarce, Marchesi said he has seen considerable physical changes in his vineyards that he attributes directly to biodynamics."

2008, our first Biodynamic Certified Vintage

In 2001 we started converting our vineyard farming practices to organic methods. We took it one step at a time and with every year we saw improvements in vine health, soil structure and general vitality. In 2003 I enrolled in a 9 month course in Biodynamic farming at the Pfeiffer Center in New York and in the fall of 2003 we started implementing some of these practices on selected blocks of grapes with great results.

A Great Loss

This is proving to be a difficult week for us. Lynn Robertson, a very important part of our close-knit crew, passed away over the weekend. It happened so suddenly that it still doesn't seem real.

As we slowly come to terms with her departure, we remember her most for her generosity, her keen intelligence and her love of animals. Our office will never be the same without her spirited personality, with which she filled every room she entered.

We will dedicate our bottling of our barrel-selected 2008 "Cataclysm" Pinot Noir to her, since she coined its name.

Harvest Report 2008

This vintage reminds me of the old saying “Good things come to those who wait.” For a while it seemed like all we did was wait. A cool, late spring was followed by one of the coolest summers in the past 10 years, though it was still warmer than average for the past 60 years.  Who says there's no global warming?

Montinore's 230 acres earn Demeter's Biodynamic® Certification

After farming vineyards on both coasts of the United States for over 30 years, Rudy Marchesi says he finally gets it. “When you have been growing grapes as long and in as many different regions as I have you start to realize that the vineyards have a consciousness of their own, as they are living organisms and Biodynamic® farming addresses that reality.”