MonksGate Vineyard
Every wine has a story. This one involves an Abbey. Speaking with Rebecca Moore about the history of MonksGate Vineyards would be reason enough to visit, but do not worry we will be getting to the estate grown wines in a moment.
Rebecca’s parents Ron and Linda came to Carlton in 1998 and bought this 50 acre farm of over grown Christmas trees and blackberry bushes and set out on the task of clearing the land. The property also sits next to a Trappist Abbey and the neighboring monks would walk the property daily in meditation. When installing the deer fence they put in a gate for the monks so they could continue their walks. Hence, the name MonksGate Vineyard was born. You can here more about the story in the video at the end of this post.
Our first visit to MonksGate Vineyard was in the winter during pruning and Rebecca took us out into the vineyard to talk about soil types, the Wadensville vines and how the property is dry farmed.
The wines are outstanding! The focus is of course Pinot Noir and the clones are mostly Wadensville, 667 and Pommard. They also do a dry Reisling and a Rose’. All of the wines are estate grown and dry farmed on Willakenzie soil. You can browse the currently available wines on their website here.
We returned in the spring during bud break and for the Yamhill / Carlton Spring Tasting event. Click on the link for the 2019 event info. Below are a few shots from the 2017 event.
Vineyard Dog
This is the video we made with Rebecca. It is an excellent source of information regarding dry farming, soil types, different clones of Pinot Noir and of course the wines of MonksGate Vineyards.
You can read much more about MonksGate Vineyards by going to their website here. And of course, plan on making a trip out to the tasting room.
