About us

At Domaine Verdant we make extraordinary pinot noir and chardonnay wines that beautifully express our unique Oregon terroir, microclimate, and winemaking philosophy. Our only objective is to make wines that merit a place among the very best wines made anywhere.

Our Domaine Verdant Estate Wines

Made only from the classic Dijon clone vines growing in our Yamhill estate vineyards in the heart of the renowned Yamhill-Carlton AVA, all our Domaine Verdant estate wines are aged in specially selected oak barrels.

Our Wine-Making Philosophy

We make our estate wines only from pinot and chardonnay grapes harvested in our Yamhill-Carlton vineyards, and we follow the time-honored tradition of “letting the grapes speak through the wine.” We patiently let the vinification process in each barrel create its own individual expression of terroir, varietal, vintage, and barrel.

Barrel Aging

We age all our estate wines in specially selected oak barrels, and we let each varietal and vintage rest in barrel until each wine achieves a perfect marriage of flavors, aroma, color, and texture.

Extended Aging in Bottle

For financial reasons, most commercial wines are released soon after bottling, in many cases while the wine is still undergoing “bottle shock.” At Domaine Verdant, we want each bottle of wine that we release to have achieved its full expression of terroir and growing season. All our wines therefore undergo extended aging in the bottle to achieve maturity in the bottle before being released. We typically hold our chardonnay wines for one to two years after bottling before we release them. For our pinot noir wines, we typically hold vintages from warmer growing seasons like 2014 and 2015 for two to three years to let the deep fruit and spicy pinot flavors fully emerge in each bottle. For vintages from cooler growing seasons like 2011, we typically hold our wines for four years or more to allow the delicate structuration of a cool-season wine to run its course. Our extended barrel and bottle aging means that each bottle of wine we release is ready to be served and enjoyed fully that day, or may be cellared for several years or longer.

Our Terroir

The location and elevation of Domaine Verdant's moderately-sloped vineyards have very special geological consequences for our wines. It is in part, what enables us to produce our exceptional chardonnay and pinot noir wines.

Willamette Valley Sedimentary Soils

Soils throughout the central Willamette Valley of Oregon are generally sedimentary soils from ancient ocean floors uplifted by the tectonic plate movements that created the coastal mountains and hills of the Pacific Northwest USA millions of years ago. Since the first plantings of pinot noir vines in the Willamette Valley more than 40 years ago, a number of soil types originating from the valley’s sedimentary soils have proven very hospitable to pinot noir vines.

The Missoula Flood

Following the last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago, a cataclysmic event called the Missoula Flood saw a vast glacial lake covering much of Montana burst its dam of glacial detritus, sending a wall of melted glacial water miles wide and hundreds of feet high down what is today the Columbia River basin. This massive flood brought granite-rich soils from the mountains of Montana and Idaho to the hills and valleys south of today’s Portland, Oregon. Cresting at about 330 feet (100 meters)—which fortuitously coincides with the highest elevation of our vineyards—the Missoula Flood brought a unique overlay of highly mineral soils and glacial gravel that profoundly enriches the underlying sedimentary soils in our vineyards. The resulting mix of alluvial and sedimentary soils in our vineyards gives our pinot and chardonnay wines a highly distinctive mineral structure and lingering finish that are the perfect complement to the intense flavors conferred by our Dijon clones of pinot noir, pinot blanc, pinot gris, and chardonnay.

Our Vineyards and Our Vines

Originally planted in 1998-1999, our 12 acres of pinot noir and chardonnay vines are amongst the oldest plantings in the renowned Yamhill-Carlton AVA and include only classic Dijon clones

Pinot Noir

Our ten acres of pinot noir vines are divided roughly equally among Dijon clones 113, 114, 115, 777, and Pommard. This palette of classic Bourgogne pinot types enables us to make both exceptional single-varietal wines that beautifully express the distinctive character of each clone as it develops each season in our vineyards, as well as carefully selected blends of clones that express the unique microclimate and terroir of our Yamhill vineyards.

Chardonnay

Our two acres of chardonnay vines consist of Dijon clones 76 and 96, most of which were also planted in 1998-1999. The pairing of Dijon clones 76 and 96 from our vineyards yields chardonnay wines with stunning depth of stone fruit and tropical fruit flavors, complemented by a cleansing finish conferred by the minerality in our sedimentary and alluvial soils. In 2015 we planted an additional acre and a half of chardonnay (clone 548) slated for production of single-clone chardonnay wines beginning in 2019.

Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris

Our small plantings of pinot blanc and pinot gris clones (approximately ¼ acre each) are dedicated to limited-quantity production of barrel-aged, single-varietal white pinot wines that artfully elicit the delicate fruit and floral characters that only attentive cultivation and winemaking can bring out in these classic Dijon varietals.

Our Microclimate

Domaine Verdant's south-facing vineyards are located at elevations of 260 to 300 feet (85 to 100 meters) above sea level - a range of elevations with very important microclimate consequences for our wines.

Day and Night Temperature Cycles

Our vineyards’ moderate elevations and location confer a cycle of day and night temperatures that is ideal for flavor, aroma, and color development in our pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. During the growing season, daytime temperatures typically range from high 70s to mid 80s degrees Fahrenheit (24 to 32 degrees Celsius), while nighttime temperatures range from 54 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (12 to 16 degrees Celsius).

Afternoon Breezes

A distinctive microclimatic feature of our vineyard site is the mid-afternoon breezes from the Pacific Ocean that regularly move through a gap in the coastal range of mountains known as the Van Duzer Corridor. These breezes bring cool ocean air through our vineyards, preventing accumulations of afternoon heat that could degrade the delicate processes of flavor and color development in pinot and chardonnay grapes.

Ideal Microclimate for Flavor and Color Development

The fortuitous combination of moderately warm days with cool afternoons and evenings in our vineyards confers a remarkable depth and delicacy of pinot and chardonnay flavors that make our wines sought after by pinot noir and chardonnay oenophiles around the world.

Our Viticulture

Our viticulrtual practices are founded on our deep commitments to maintaining the highest possible quality in our wines and to the preservation and enhancement of Oregon's beautiful natural environment.

Quality as the Only Priority

As our friends and fellow winemakers in Bourgogne have long said, we believe that great wines are made in the vineyard. In our Domaine Verdant vineyards, we have only one priority: the growing of grapes that will produce wines that are consistently recognized as among the very best in the world. To that end, we have created a “culture of viticulture” in which everyone who works in our vineyards understands and lives out our commitment to growing the highest-quality grapes for our wines. What that means in practice is that in our vineyards we always choose quality over quantity, economy, or expediency. As a result, we spare no expense in our efforts to cultivate the very best grapes that each varietal and clone can develop in our vineyards.

Our Commitment to the Environment

Unlike many wines produced by an increasingly consolidated and corporatized global wine industry, the best Oregon wines are still made by dedicated small producers who live and work on their wine estates and who are deeply committed to preserving Oregon’s beautiful natural environment. We share that commitment, and we follow through on our commitment by strictly adhering to LIVE-certified (Limited Input Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon-Safe viticultural practices that contribute to the sustainability and biodiversity of our natural environment.