DAYTON, Ore. — A large circular calendar greets visitors inside the wine shop at Domaine Willamette, nestled in the Dundee Hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

The 20-acre estate, opened in 2022 by Willamette Valley Vineyards, is embracing biodynamic agriculture to grow Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Meunier winegrapes, most of which are used to produce a variety of sparkling wines.

Domaine Willamette is in the home stretch of becoming certified biodynamic. Like organic farming, the vineyard does not use conventional fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.

But biodynamic practices go even further, emphasizing the biodiversity of plants and animals to produce healthy crops and ecosystems. Another characteristic of the system is using astrological and lunar cycles to determine when certain farming activities should take place — hence the unique calendar.

‘Old-school farming’

“It’s really old-school farming,” said Terry Culton, head winemaker at Willamette Valley Vineyards. “It’s like the Old Farmer’s Almanac.”

Picking crews were hard at work on a cool and sunny morning Sept. 5 harvesting winegrapes for sparkling wine at Domaine Willamette. Though all of Willamette Valley Vineyards’ properties are certified through the nonprofit group LIVE for meeting sustainability standards, these will become the first biodynamic-certified wines made by Willamette Valley Vineyards.

Harvest of winegrapes for sparkling wines typically takes place first in the season, Culton said. Winemakers want the grapes to have a lower sugar level and higher acidity. Yeast and sugar is then added for the secondary fermentation, which is what makes the bubbles.

Culton said he expects the biodynamic certification process will be completed in two weeks by Demeter USA, the country’s only certifier for biodynamic farms.

The hillside vineyard at Domaine Willamette has been farmed using biodynamic practices since 2019, Culton said. That includes removing Himalayan blackberry bushes by hand, bringing in owls and raptors to control pests such as ground squirrels and gophers and spraying their own homemade organic fertilizer.

‘Soils are alive’

“What we’ve noticed is that our soils are alive here,” Culton said. “You’ll see bugs and worms and all kinds of things in the soil. We’re actually helping them thrive, and they’re helping us because they put back into the soil all kinds of different nutrients. … The grapes’ quality, we really truly feel like we see a difference.”

The organic fertilizer is made using fresh manure, which is packed tightly into hollow cow horns like an ice cream cone. About 15-20 horns are then buried for six months in the fall before being dug up and mixing the organic matter with water.

The result of all this hard work, Culton said, is healthier vines and “amazing” flavor profiles in the finished wines.

“The reward’s in the bottle,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to being able to showcase this.”

Willamette Valley Vineyards is Oregon’s only publicly owned wine company, farming more than 500 acres of vineyards across the state and producing more than 200,000 cases of wine annually.