“When folks ask about coming to visit, I want to make sure they know it’s a rustic experience,” owner Janis Pate says.
Pate is the first female in Oregon to purchase land, plant a vineyard and develop a wine label with no spouse or partner.
“I’m realizing that it was no small undertaking. It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t know that along the way because it was a lot,” she says.
Now enjoying the payoff, or at least trying to, Pate and her two employees were really pressed last year, “pandemically” speaking. Then wildfire smoke damaged the grapes.
“Normally we produce about 60 tons of fruit, we crop very light for quality. Last year was a light crop year, so we’re expecting just over 50 tons and 23 of those tons were lost to smoke taint,” she says.
Pate acknowledges she’s one of the fortunate few whose vintage wasn’t affected. This year, Arlyn Vineyard will have Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gamay — but Pate added something else to the guest experience: a rare breed of sheep.
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