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Harris Bridge Vineyard & Winery
Harris Bridge Vineyards and Winery is the only
Oregon winery exclusively devoted to Dessert Wines. Nathan and Amanda
make three ice wine styled dessert wines from the Pinot Gris and Pinot
Noir grape varietals.
This young couple has received very positive
response from the Corvallis community, and their fame is spreading
across the Northwest. Avalon is so pleased to offer these delicious
dessert wines.
Ecologically
sound and sustainable farming practices are at HBV’s core,
and they are key to preserving one of the most spectacular natural settings in
Oregon. The Vineyard is planted in Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, two of Oregon’s
premier varietals. With the fruit from those vines, HBV produces ultra-premium
dessert wines.
Harris Bridge Vineyard had its first harvest in the fall of 2001, and the wine
produced from that vintage is being sold only through the HBV Tasting Room and
a few private tastings. From the 2002 harvest, HBV produced about 400 cases of
Pinot Gris dessert wine and from that, 95 cases of reserve.
For the 2003
vintage HBV produced about 250 cases of Pinot Noir dessert wine,
one of only a few such
wines produced in the world. 150 cases have been released as reserve with the
next 100 cases to be aged for another year and bottled in 2005. About the Winemaker
Pinot noir Dessert Wine |
Nathan was raised in Harris Valley and developed a love for the region.
He decided to return to the valley following his undergraduate studies
and began establishing Harris Bridge Vineyard.
While establishing the vineyard, Nathan worked in the wine industry
to both pay the bills, and learn the craft. He started winter pruning
with Dai Crisp at Croft Vineyard, then worked with Argyle winery in
Dundee as a cellar-hand under Winemaker Rheinhard Schlasse, and finally
as an assistant winemaker at Eola Hills under then Winemaker Kerry
Norton. Since then, he has been on his own with Harris Bridge Vineyard.
The Region
Harris Valley,
located in the foothills of the Oregon coastal mountain range, is
one of the most pristine settings
in western Oregon. The valley was founded in the days when the U.S.
government began issuing land claims. It saw a timber industry flourish
and falter, and today stands as a quiet historical community with only
a passing train and covered bridge to remind us of its long history.
Harris Covered Bridge, the vineyard’s namesake, crosses the Mary's
River which flows through the valley on its way to meet the Willamette,
providing a constant life source for the diversity of wildlife in the
region.
The earliest recorded land claims in the area
were issued to Nahum and Sarepta King around 1845. These were the pioneers
after which King's Valley, just north of Harris Valley, was named.
The original land claims were broken into sections and sold over the
years to various families, but it was in 1865 under the ownership of
George Mason, that the first house in Harris Valley was built. That
house still stands today, next to the covered bridge in the center
of the valley. It is constructed with two front doors, a style popularized
in the south, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, where George Masons wife
was from.
Pinot Gris Dessert Wine |
It was about
1870 when timber harvest in the area began through the work of Charles
King. However, most of the major
logging activity was instigated by the work of Henry Palmer Harris,
who in 1875 purchased the bulk of land in the area now called Harris
Valley, and began logging. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, saw opportunity
in setting a mill along the planned Corvallis to Yaquina railroad,
and by 1880, they had built a new house (now the Harris Bridge Vineyards
farmhouse) and mill along the proposed railroad route. Henry hired
chinese laborers to dig a millrace, which still exists in front of
the farmhouse, to divert water to the water wheel that ran his mill.
To house the chinese laborers he built several shacks in the field
where the vineyard now stands.
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The house that Henry built was 30' by
30', very large for the times, and his intention was that one room
in the house would serve as a post office and railroad depot. He and
Mary Ellen also planned to rent out the extra rooms to men working
on the railroad. On December 31, 1884, just months after the famous "100
years" flood, the golden spike ceremony was held in Harris Valley,
uniting the railroad from Yaquina bay to Corvallis. Henry passed away in 1890 and left his mill to
his son, George Harris. George and his wife, Ivy, continued to operate
the mill until 1908. Ivy Harris, a very determined woman, convinced
the county to give the community of Harris a teacher in 1908, and a
new schoolhouse in 1910. In 1917, the mill roared back into action
with the onset of World War I and from 1917-1928 the town of Harris
boomed. A general store, post office, dance hall, and housing were
all established for the 100 or so inhabitants that poured into the
valley. In 1929 the county constructed the Harris Covered Bridge, the
same bridge that is used today for passage over the Mary's river. However,
it was also 1929 when the mills ceased operating, and except for a
small boom in the early 1940's, all has been pretty quiet in Harris
since.
The train still passes through the valley
twice a day, and the log trucks still roll out of the foothills,
but for the most part all is still.
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