Hiyu Wine Farm

Atavus - 2017 - Nate Ready

United States

READY Nate

Atavus is a 4.8-hectare vineyard which includes two hectares of Pinot Noir. The vines were planted at the end of the 1960s on a gentle slope of volcanic clay soils, facing southeast, at 490 metres altitude. The climate there is very cool, due to the altitude and the proximity of the river, which allows the grapes to ripen late while maintaining very good levels of acidity. The grapes are harvested by hand, and the yields kept low. Vinification includes maceration of whole grape bunches, with zero intervention or additives. The wine is bottled by gravity, and without sulphur. For Nate and China, winemaking is about terroirs and vines rather than "recipes" in the cellar.

Nate Ready and his wife China Tresemer founded Hiyu Wine Farm in 2010, a 12-hectare "reserve" in Oregon's Hood River Valley, which includes vineyards as well as a vegetable garden, animal pastures and forests. Guided by nature and inspired by the principles of biodynamics and permaculture, they cook with their own produce and seek to reveal the grandeur and diversity of their terroir through their wines. Nate is a Master Sommelier, China is a chef and artist, and together they have created a veritable miniature ecological paradise that is being lauded as a model of its kind. Even the wine labels are designed by China! An estate where ancient savoir-faire is being used to create something wonderfully new, and our relationship with the earth, food and wine is being completely reimagined… to be discovered ASAP!