WILLIAMS, Ore. — It took a long time for Joe and Suzi Ginet, owners of the Plaisance Ranch, to fulfill their family’s dream.

Now, with three generations behind them, the Ginets operate a 210-acre ranch with 250 Angus cross cattle, as well as a unique winery and affiliated vineyard and nursery.

Many of the vines that produce Plaisance wines — the French name means “pleasurable” — are from Joe’s ancestral wine-growing village in the foothills of the French Alps. Joe’s grandfather, also named Joseph, brought the Mondeuse vine and others to Oregon in 1905.

After his death, the property was lost but his grandson brought the Mondeuse variety back to the U.S. in 2000, along with the Pursan variety in 2020.

Today, those vines are nourished on a family ranch in southern Oregon by the organic materials produced in part by the Ginets’ cattle operation.

After graduating from Grants Pass High School, Ginet headed for college intending to be a veterinarian, attending Oregon State University and eventually graduating in animal science from the University of California-Davis. During college, he visited relatives in France, re-igniting his familial love of winemaking.

In 1975, he married Suzi, a friend from high school. The couple have a “tribe,” Suzi says: five children, 12 grandchildren and a great-grandson.

In 1979, Joe and Suzi bought a 126-acre property and started a dairy near Williams. For several years the Ginets expanded the dairy from 15 to 500 head.

In 1984, they bought the adjoining farm, adding 184 acres. In 2004, the Ginets traded in the dairy cattle for a small herd of Angus cattle.

Ginet’s cousins from Savoie, France, joined the operation 1998 to help the Ginets start a grapevine grafting facility, and the transition from milk to wine began. The winery opened in 2006.

About 60 head of certified organic cattle are processed each year and sold to visitors at the ranch retail store, and in stores and restaurants from Eugene to Ashland.

Ginet gives the same attention to regenerative practices for his cattle that he uses on his 15-acre vineyard. His cattle herds are grazed in rotation through 12 paddocks that are not plowed.

The pastures are planted to 30 species appropriate to the sedimentary soil and with an eye to cattle and soil health including native grasses, legumes, broccoli, kale, brassicas, radishes, mustard and others.

“All the goodies they need to produce fat and meat and to give the soil more microbial life,” said Ginet.

All the winter hay is also harvested on the ranch. Intensive rotational grazing leads to quality carcasses at less than two years of age, Ginet said. “Animals are harvested in the fall after a long summer of only the best grasses.”

Over the years most of the European and English breeds of bulls have been used to take advantage of the hybrid vigor that results from diversity.

“Currently, we have just finished a two-year period with Wagyu bulls, back to Angus next,” he said.

Waste from the winery is composted with old hay, leaves and dairy manure from local farms to create compost for the grapes, then the grazing paddocks and hay fields are supplemented with the beef cow herd manure and purchased pelletized organic chicken manure.

“We also support honeybee hives, heirloom vegetable gardens, and a small orchard,” he said.

Their oldest son, Jebin, who lives nearby, helps with the operation. Suzi manages the ranch books, meat store and the tasting room. Joe is the winemaker and marketer.

The ranch is open year-round. Hours, directions and an on-line store are on the website, www.plaisanceranch.com.