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Troon Vineyard

Troon Vineyard is a Demeter Biodynamic® Certified and Regenerative Organic Certified™️ farm in Oregon’s Applegate Valley. We naturally craft wines to bring pleasure to your life. Troon Vineyard is dedicated to regenerative agriculture and we practice Biodynamics® in our quest to put back more than we take from our plants and soils. We believe the only route to memorable wines, that reflect the terroir of where they were grown, is to be found in the healthy soils and vines that are the foundation of Biodynamic® agriculture. This philosophy continues in the cellar where our winemaking is minimalist and we use only native yeasts with no additives to ferment our wines and eschew the use of new oak barrels to reveal each nuance of wines grown in Oregon's Applegate Valley. We “Farm like the world depends on it”, which is the slogan of the Regenerative Organic Alliance and reflects our vision for our farm, for our wines and for our planet. We are located on the Kubli Bench, high above the Applegate River in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon. It is a biodiverse farm of almost 100 acres. Life on our farm includes cider apples, a vegetable garden, re-wilded honeybees, sheep, chickens, wildlife, dogs, humans and, of course, grapevines.
Winemaking at Troon is straightforward and minimalist. Our grapes are field sorted by the same vineyard crew that tended them all season. Our goal is to express our vineyards rather than winemaking techniques in our wines. All Troon Vineyard wines are fermented only with native yeasts and no commercial yeasts, acids, sugar, enzymes or additives are added to any of the wines. Our white wines are whole-cluster pressed then barrel fermented in mature French Oak barrels. For “Orange Wines” we are now using clay amphorae to allow extended skin contact after fermentation. We make a range of fun pétillant natural sparkling wines, naturally fermented in bottle. For red wines, we focus on using whole-cluster and whole berry fruit in our fermenters, then use only mature French Oak barrels for aging so that every nuance of our unique Applegate Valley fruit can express itself in our wines.
We are a new entity on a new voyage with a new mission since the arrival of owners Denise and Bryan White. Biodynamics® will reinvigorate our soils and our vines, but it is also reinvigorating us. It is those combined energies that will be expressed in our wines. Wines full of energy are exciting wines and we could not be more excited about making them. Our desire to make special wines from what we know is a vineyard, a terroir, with exceptional potential is what started us on this voyage to begin with.
The vines, the soil, the place, the wines, and the people are all becoming one.

Country USA - OR
Region Southern Oregon
Annual Production 5000
Serendipity Markets California, Texas

Philosophy

Cynics often claim wineries get certifications as a marketing ploy. They’re right, but not in the way they think. We are selling something — an idea. That idea is regenerative agriculture. Those that think it’s a slick wine marketing concept need to have a conversation with our accountants.
That’s not to say that biodynamics and regenerative agriculture can’t be profitable, indeed they can be, should be, and better be. As they say, you can’t farm green if you’re in the red. However, you may need to be patient for the profit - it’s worth the wait.
There are many reasons to get organic certifications — all of them good for the planet. You need a framework, a foundation to get started on a complex project based on long-term goals. Rigorous certifications like Demeter Biodynamic® and Regenerative Organic Certified™ (ROC) give a farm an outline of how to move forward. The process sets goals and milestones that help define the work that needs to be done and how to do it. This is critical when you are held to a high standard that demands you progress and improve.
There is no endpoint in the process — you never reach agricultural nirvana. Even if you improve every year, you’re only taking small steps forward for the next generation. There is no finish line, this is a race where the leaders are the ones not moving backward. Continual, gradual improvement is the mission. Building an additional one-percent organic matter in our soil may not sound like a lot to you, but for us, it’s a cause for celebration.
The certification process is a time of introspection and planning. We thoroughly reviewed what we accomplished and discussed what worked and where we fell short. We then plan out strategies for the next season and beyond. By the time the inspector arrives, we are prepared in a way you can never be without a formal process and demanding standards that must be achieved. The challenge is always planning how you will improve and move forward. Each year we add additional layers to our practice.
Your first certification, while an achievement, is only the beginning. It means you have finally arrived at the starting line. Ultimately, you have to build on the outline that the certifications have developed and discover the ideal framework for your farm. While the overall concepts of regenerative agriculture are the same everywhere, you need to sculpt them for your farm — an art that takes years, even generations, to develop fully.
There’s a lot of greenwashing out there. Many “sustainable” certifications sound good on paper but still allow far too many poisons and shortcuts in the field and cellar. While sustainable certifications are focused on the needs and problems of the producer, Demeter and ROC are concentrated on providing the consumer with a logo on a label that can reliably mean something to them. While I cannot doubt the best intentions of many involved in the many sustainable certifications, their programs fall short of what is needed to save our planet and have been co-opted by big agriculture. These greenwashed logos on labels dilute the meaning of all similar logos on wine labels and only confuse the consumer — which is often their intention. Why achieve a more demanding certification when you can slap a sustainable certificate on your brand without giving up Round-Up and so many other dangerous applications in your vineyard?
Every major grocery chain features organic vegetables, but those sections are dominated by big agriculture, and big organic ag is often not regenerative agriculture. This dilution of the term organic combined with corporate greenwashing of the term sustainable makes more meaningful certifications a necessity.
There are many uncertified, perfectly legitimate practitioners of regenerative agriculture who are just as dedicated to that vision as we are, but by not getting certified and putting those logos on their labels, they are not pushing the movement forward. Yes, they are improving their soils, and capturing carbon, and touching all the bases except one — evangelicalism. Our job is not to change just our farm, but to change all farms.
Putting your certifications on the label is a means of communication, and any brand messaging can be construed as marketing. But the Demeter and ROC logos are essential to communicate to consumers that are devoted to supporting producers that are committed to both the environment producing fruit, vegetables, and livestock that meets both their standards of quality and integrity. Connecting with those customers is an essential element for those that practice regenerative agriculture. With no margin, there is no mission. There are customers who share our values and want to support them. It is our job to connect with them and certification logos clearly carry our message and mission to them. Those consumers consider that a service, not a marketing hack.
Wine has advantages as we have labels to display logos and produce products that can sit on a shelf for extended periods, an advantage not open to many biodynamic farmers. Shipping perishables is challenging for small farmers. This puts winegrowers in a unique position to promote the idea of certifications beyond organic. Telling the story of how we farm is a responsibility, communicating to customers about why they should buy regeneratively farmed products is how we build demand for all ROC and Demeter products — and that’s a sure way to convince more farmers and retailers to change their ways.
Regenerative agriculture is not just about your farm — it’s about all farms.

Biography

From Eric Asimov in the New York Times

…But Aside from the excellent Applegate wines I’ve had from Willamette producers, the wines of one producer, Troon Vineyard, made such an impression on me over the last few years that I drove seven hours from the Mendocino Coast in July to pay a visit to Applegate Valley.

Troon, outside of Grants Pass, is not exactly new. It was founded in 1972 by Dick Troon, a farmer who planted cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel. But the modern history of Troon began when the farm was purchased in 2016 by Denise and Bryan White, Texans who were looking for a place in Oregon. They in turn hired Craig Camp, a wine industry veteran, as general manager.

Mr. Camp first moved to convert the vineyards — the cabernet and zin had long since been pulled out — to biodynamic and regenerative farming, while making the estate more biodiverse. They planted apple trees and a vegetable garden, and added chickens and sheep for grazing in the vineyard and rewilded honeybees, a program of creating hives as bees would in the wild rather than for cultivating honey.

Both biodynamics and regenerative farming put a premium on building and maintaining soil health while creating a thriving and diverse environment. Theoretically, at least, the farm becomes a self-regulating ecosystem in which grapevines have all they need without additions like fertilizers or herbicides to compensate for what has been lost or taken away."

In practice, it’s not always that neat. But Mr. Camp can point to many triumphs, like a diseased block of vermentino that he says has done well after the conversion to biodynamics.

Mr. Camp now considers himself an advocate of practical biodynamic farming. He was once a skeptic, he said, but became convinced only through tasting wines that impressed him and learning afterward that they had been made of biodynamically farmed grapes. The improvements he’s seen in the microbial life of the soil at Troon have further persuaded him.

Troon recently received Regenerative Organic Certification, which, in addition to farming organically, requires it to demonstrate improvements in soil health and water management and to meet standards in managing employees and in caring for animals.

Mr. Camp and his team are overhauling the Troon infrastructure and replanting the vineyards, primarily with varieties from the Rhône Valley, like syrah, grenache, mourvèdre, roussanne and marsanne; the southwest of France, like tannat, negrette and rolle (also known as vermentino); along with some from Italy and Spain.

In all, Troon has 45 planted acres with 20 varieties, some of which have been added simply to determine which grapes will make the best wines.

“We need to experiment,” said Nate Wall, Troon’s winemaker. “We’re a young A.V.A.”

Mr. Camp says the obscurity of some of the grapes plays in Troon’s favor. "I find trying to sell wines like negrette easier than pinot noir,” he said. “We’re connecting with people, who say: ‘Negrette? Oh, I want to try that.’ ”"

While I admire the way Troon farms and its empirical attitude, the proof is in the wines, which are invariably fresh, lively and expressive. A 2020 vermentino is pure and energetic, full of citrus and herbal flavors yet refreshing and intriguing.

A 2019 Côtes du Kubli (named for the Kubli Bench, the geographical feature on which Troon sits), mostly syrah with 16 percent grenache, is tangy, dry and lip-smacking. A 2019 tannat is lovely, with floral and plum flavors.

Troon is fermenting some wines in amphora, and is making orange wines, petillant-naturels and piquettes, all trendy expressions that, in Troon’s hands, demonstrate why people were attracted to the styles in the first place.

The growing consumer interest in piquette particularly has been surprising. Historically, piquette was made by adding water to pomace — the skins, seeds and stems remaining after grapes were pressed — and then re-fermenting the mixture, resulting in a thin, fizzy, low-alcohol beverage that was given to vineyard workers. In its modern incarnation, it has developed a following. “We made piquette for the first time in 2019,” Mr. Camp said. “I thought it was for geeks, but it flew out the door.”

Troon has also been forward thinking, planting late-ripening grapes, like mourvèdre, that may not be ideal now but will be useful as the climate changes. “We plant on the belief that the climate will continue to warm up,” Mr. Camp said. “It’s a year-by-year process, if it doesn’t ripen enough it will make a great rosé or even a pet-nat.”

Wines from Troon Vineyard

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