TROON VINEYARD’S ROOTS date back to 1972, when Dick and Virginia Troon owned the property and grew grapes they sold to wineries in the area. Today, the Applegate Valley vineyard produces thousands of cases of its own wine — available in red, white, orange, rosé, and sparkling varieties — each year.
Troon’s manager says the mindset at the winery is
TROON VINEYARD APPLEGATE VALLEY, OREGON
that “you practice these [biodynamic] procedures and then you connect with the spirituality of the farm, not the other way around.”
photographs by Craig Camp
Craig Camp, Troon’s general manager, came on board in 2016 to help revitalize the farm. Camp describes himself and the team there “as practical biodynamic practitioners,” and notes that both the company’s director of agriculture Garett Long and winemaker Nate Wall have master’s degrees in science; Long studied soil science, and Wall environmental studies. While Camp acknowledges that “there’s a heavy spiritual side to biodynamics,” alluding to Rudolf Steiner (who introduced the holistic agricultural approach to farmers in 1924), Troon’s manager says the mindset at the winery is that “you practice these [biodynamic] procedures and then you connect with the spirituality of the farm, not the other way around.” Nourishing the soil is, of course, essential — and integral to the quality of the wine Troon produces. The vineyard applies a mix of year-old compost, fresh manure from a neighboring dairy farm, and biodynamic preparations including cow-horn manure to the soil to keep it healthy. It also embraces rotational grazing with sheep and
to work and then a natural plant system for the same reason,” Camp says, adding that “working together, they will create more healthy fruit which obviously will make better wine.” Troon is making other efforts to make a positive impact as it makes wine. The business is in the process of converting its farm equipment to electric, Camp says, with a goal to be carbon neutral, and this year Troon is getting a solar system installed to offset all of its power usage. It also embraces recycling and composting, and uses light bottles for its wines; Camp notes that the lightest bottles the team at Troon could find come from Spain and China, but they use bottles from Oregon instead to lessen their carbon footprint. In addition, the winery plans to experiment with an initiative where customers can bring reusable bottles back to the winery to be washed and refilled later this year. “We’re not going to change the world by what we do. But hopefully we can convince other people that this is the way to farm,” Camp says, adding that Troon has found its practices not only result in better and more nutritional produce, but can also be made economically viable. Bottom line, Camp says of regenerative farming, “it’s really important that you could do all this and still make great wine.”
chickens to interact with the soil, with the latter helping with pest prevention as they dig through manure for bugs and other pests. The farm releases natural predators such as lacewings to combat pests as well. “You want to create a natural soil system, the way that nature intended these things
Top to bottom: Pomace fresh from the press is added to a new compost pile. Everything from the harvest is recycled back to the soil. Farm manager Adan Cortes (left) and Director of Agriculture Garett Long (right) dig up finished stinging nettle, which fermented underground over the winter.
Top to bottom: Winemaker Nate Wall (left) and Farm Sales Director Jennifer Teisl (right) load Pétette into tirage bins. Jason and Garett harvest Vermentino grapes. Tannat wine grapes.
Visit TROONVINEYARD.COM to learn more.
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ISSUE 01
TRACING THE WINE WORLD’S NEW REGENERATIVE PATH
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