20 | EDIBLE PORTLAND SPRING 2025 AT the end of the last Ice Age, a 3,000 square mile glacial lake was dammed in by a wall of ice in Northern Idaho. As that wall melted and gave way, the contents of the Glacial Lake Missoula emptied into Northern Washington, down the Columbia River, and into Oregon before dumping into the Pacific Ocean. When this event occurred, the force of that much water took topsoil, rocks, and much more across that distance, depositing much of it into what is now named the Willamette Valley. The richness of all that topsoil ending up in our corner of the world makes the Willamette Valley one of the most fertile agricultural regions on Earth. Nestled into the lush landscape of Oregon's Willamette Valley, atop a mound of that Missoula flood potpourri of granitic rocks and soil, is Johan Vineyards: a 175-acre certified Biodynamic® estate vineyard and winery with 87 acres dedicated to growing 16 different varieties of grapes. Johan stands as a paragon of sustainable viticulture and ecological stewardship. As a current grape purchasing client and former employee of Johan, Chad Stock, says, "It might just be the most famous vineyard in the Willamette Valley at this point." The first 63 acres of the site were initially planted in 2002 and 2003 with what client/winemaker of Bow & Arrow Wines, Scott Frank cheekily calls, "the mirepoix of the Willamette Valley: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris" by a (now unimportant to this story) man who didn't understand how farm law and real estate development law works and ultimately decided to back out from the project. The real story of Johan Vineyards began when it was acquired in 2005 by Dag Johan Sundby and given its eponymous name as a vineyard and brand. After attempting to wrangle the land and make wine at a neighboring winery from his struggling fruit in his first two years, Sundby knew he needed help and aspired to convert the vineyard to organic farming to heal what had been done by conventional farming at planting. In 2007, he hired Dan Rinke, a graduate from Fresno State, to come on board as his viticulturist and catch-all wine guy to begin the conversion. Rinke had other plans and pitched farming the vineyard with Biodynamic practices and pursuing certification from Demeter. Demeter USA certifies US farms and ranches and their products as biodynamic. That much-coveted certification came after three grueling years of planting 25 additional acres of heritage clones and new varieties thanks to innovative minds like Scott Frank of Bow & Arrow, Chad Stock, formerly of Minimus, Omero, Craft Wine Co. and now with Constant Crush and David Hill, and Meredith Bell of Statera Cellars. Since Sundby purchased Johan, it has been a site that sells fruit to other wineries. Some of those have been working with specific blocks for a very long time now. The longestrunning client, Big Table Farm, has been purchasing some of the original plantings of Dijon Clone Chardonnay from Johan since 2010. To be transparent, my label with Meredith Bell, Statera Cellars, has worked with that same original Dijon Chardonnay since 2014. This is the first in a series of vineyard highlights I want to write about and this particular site stands out to me and many others as a place of utmost importance in the reshaping of the Willamette Valley as a region primarily known for world-class Pinot Noir but is now recognized as having the ability to grow many varieties. JOHAN VINEYARDS A Testament to Biodiversity and Sustainable Practices By Luke Allen Wylde | Photos by Ross Maloof
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