North America | Oregon | Illahe Vineyards
Illahe Vineyards
Wines
Summary
Illahe is a Chinook Jargon word meaning “earth,” “land,” or “soil.” The team at Illahe feels this reflects both their location in Oregon, as well as their desire to craft wines which express the variety of soils on their beautiful 80 acre estate. Established in 2000 by Lowell Ford, grower of Oregon grapes since 1983, Illahe is a LIVE-certified, Salmon Safe vineyard. They use cover crops on the entire vineyard and are part of Oregon's Deep Roots Coalition, and as such do not irrigate mature plants. Extensive green pruning and conduct plant topping is done along with pruning by hand and harvesting by hand. Sulfur spray is used to control for powdery mildew and botrytis.
They aim for balanced production and optimal ripeness. This includes a program of no irrigation, leaf pulling to decrease shade, and dropping green clusters after veraison. One of the goals at Illahe is to reduce the use of fossil fuels throughout the year. They have solar panels and use their horses, Doc and Bea, to mow and to bring grapes to the winery at harvest.
