contact us: pinot@carabellawine.com
The Vineyard
Carabella Vineyard is a 58 acre site on the southeast side of Parrett Mountain in the new Chehalem Mountains AVA, North Willamette Valley. Winemaker Mike Hallock makes wines exclusively from Carabella Vineyard fruit. Twenty seven acres are planted to five pinot noir clones on the southeast slope with an altitude of between 500 and 600 feet. Gravelly volcanic soils, Nekia, Saum and Jory, have proven perfect for dry farming the low yielding vines. The vineyard is farmed sustainably, using no herbicides. Two blocks of pinot gris (clones 146 and 152) produce distinctly different fruit as do two separate blocks of Dijon 76 chardonnay. Hallock uses the diversity within the vineyard to make wines of elegant complexity. There are eight pinot noir blocks comprised of Wadensvil, Pommard, Dijon 115, Dijon 114, and Dijon 113. Three more pinot noir blocks, Dijon 667, 777 and another block of 115 were planted in the fall of 2007.
The aim is to plant as much diversity within the vineyard as possible, so the winemaker has a broad spectrum of blending elements going into the final blends. In addition to the Carabella label, fruit from the vineyard goes to several other high quality winemakers in the Chehalem Mountains and Red Hills AVAs.