Diverse and Distinctive
The Vineyards
King Estate works closely with our vineyard partners to painstakingly explore, source and collect only the finest grapes for our wines. This passion for perfection can be tasted in every sip of every glass of every bottle we produce.
The Estate Vineyard
Certified Biodynamic and organic, our estate grapes possess complex fruit flavors, creating wines with great acidity, structure and minerality. Judicious vineyard management yields fruit with optimum ripeness and flavor concentration.
Oregon’s reputation for remarkable wine was built on pinot noir. King Estate carries on this tradition while championing Oregon pinot gris as a world-class varietal. We’ve struck the perfect balance between vine and fruit development in an Oregon climate that’s proven ideal for growing pinot gris and pinot noir grapes.
We've struck the perfect balance between vine and fruit development in Oregon's climate.
Pinot Gris
Our goal is to plant North America’s most clonally diverse pinot gris vineyards, a King Estate signature style. Planting on carefully selected rootstocks across 290 acres manages the vigor of the vines, resulting in lower crop yields with greater intensity and complexity of flavor.
Pinot Noir
Subtle differences in the flavors and textures of our clones create the complexity that makes our pinot noir so intriguing. From our 167 dedicated, certified organic acres, grapes from each section of the vineyard are handled separately throughout both the fermentation and barrel-aging phases for a total commitment to the ideal pinot expression at every stage.
Estate Terroir
The unique characteristics of King Estate, especially soil, climate and terrain, contribute to the complex fruit flavors of our organically grown estate grapes.
Soil. King Estate is situated on primarily two kinds of soil: Bellpine, a marine sedimentary soil formed when Oregon was under the sea more than 12 million years ago; and Jory, a volcanic soil created from lava flows that also date back millions of years. Both Bellpine and Jory soils provide excellent drainage with good moisture retention, and are not especially fertile — exactly what grapevines like. Our soil characteristics also allow us to dry farm (without irrigation), resulting in smaller cluster weights and more concentrated flavors.
Climate. The large daily temperature swings of up to 35 degrees for which western Oregon is known serve to enhance flavor development in grapes and balance acidity levels. A cool-climate grape, pinot noir tends to ripen early and thrives in our shorter growing season.
Terrain. With elevations ranging from 740 to just under 1,200 feet and varying slope facings, the intense summer heat we experience during the day cools more rapidly at night at higher elevations, allowing grapes to pack in the flavor without losing too much acidity.
Our Vineyard Partners
In addition to our Estate, King Estate wines are sourced from a select spectrum of the finest vineyards in the Pacific Northwest winegrowing regions — Willamette Valley, Umpqua Valley and Rogue Valley in Oregon; and Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley in Washington.
Each of our approximately 50 vineyard partners grows grapes with distinct characteristics. This diverse geographical selection was carefully chosen to complement our own estate-grown fruit.
Willamette Valley
As much as one-third to one-half of the grapes used to make King Estate Willamette Valley wines come from our estate-grown, certified Biodynamic fruit. The remainder is sourced from a careful selection of like-minded sustainably farmed vineyards throughout the AVA. Our winemakers keep these vineyards lots separate before making the final blends, ultimately creating a wine that showcases the beautiful spectrum of the Willamette Valley’s growing regions.
King Estate
Certified Biodynamic by Demeter USA
King Estate has 1,033 Biodynamic-certified acres in southwest Eugene at the southern tip of the Willamette Valley AVA. A working farm, King Estate has 470 acres under vine: 165 of Pinot Noir, nearly 300 of Pinot Gris, and the balance in other grapes. Another 30 acres feature orchards, gardens, lavender and bee hives.
world-class
Winemaking
At the heart of our winemaking process is the winery itself, the physical grounds and buildings reflecting our commitment to a pure, natural and organic approach to wine — and to life.
