Croft Bailey Vineyards
The Croft Bailey Vineyard
is located in Polk County, Oregon, approximately 4miles west of Monmouth.
The property was purchased by Chancy and Toni Croft and Bill Bailey
in the early 80's to grow premium wine grapes for sale to wineries
located in the Willamette Valley. The site was selected for its suitability
for this purpose.
The site, part of the marginal
macro climate of Western Oregon, is located
on the periphery of the southern Willamette Valley wine region. The
Bellpine type soil of the vineyard is one of the most sought after
soils for premium wine grape production. Each year’s fruit crop
must struggle to reach its natural maturity by the end of the growing
season.
This
struggle
produces
a
low yield
of high quality wine grapes of particular intensity and depth.
Joel Myers was hired as Vineyard
Master to establish the initial vineyard practices in 1989.
Joel helped
bring the vineyard to the attention of grape buyers looking for high
quality
fruit. In 1991, Joel turned over the duties to Dai Crisp (now manager
of Temperance Hill Vineyard) who continued the policies then in place
and supervised additional plantings
of Pinot
Noir.
In 1999 Matt Shea took over
the duties from Dai and now provides the vineyard management. This
fortunate succession of highly accomplished
managers has resulted in a vineyard which has consistently produced
fruit valued by wineries for quality and intensity.
In 1998, the owners decided to hold back a small portion of the Croft
Bailey grapes for a “custom crush”. The winery continued
to make wines after an initial positive response from the market.
|
