Bergström Winery
About the Winery
Bergström wine comes from a new generation of Oregon winemakers. Josh Bergström is one of the youngest commercial winemakers in Oregon.
Bergström learned from studies in France that intense farming of grape crops produces the best wine. And Bergström's wines are lovely and intense with plenty of fruit flavor lingering in the mouth.
The wines are surprising for such a youthful winemaker. Mention Bergström's youth, and it usually produces a grin on his face and a slight shrug of the shoulders. Bergström learned his craft well, and continues to learn from such winemakers as Lynn Penner-Ash, Dick Ponzi, Eric Hamnacher and Mike Etzel from Beaux Freres.
"We're farming all the time and in the vineyard all year long. We know exactly what's going on in our vineyards," said Bergström, who works the fields with his assistant, Anthony Filiberti.
"It's in the vineyards that we make our wines."
Bergström's family moved to Dundee from Portland in 1997, with the idea of producing wines from 15 acres in the Red Hills on Worden Hill Road. Bergström's father, a Portland surgeon, and sister, a real estate agent, became Bergström's financial partners in the venture.
Josh studied wine growers in the area before purchasing fruit to make his first wine in 1999. He and Filiberti contracted for grapes from Archery Summit, Wahle Vineyard and Highland Vineyard.
"We were blessed to work with such vineyard managers," said Filiberti. "It is nice to sit down and have a good relationship with the growers and managers."
The two winemakers estimate they make at least 25 trips through each vineyard every year, positioning leaves for maximum ripening, color and tannin development. Certain rows of grape vines are dedicated to Bergström, and the two winemakers watch over the crops like a mother bear with cubs. The same goes for the estate crops on the Bergström land.
As crop managers, Bergström and Filiberti do not use any herbicides or insecticides in the field.
"We look forward to using biodynamic practices in our vineyards, which include more composting and working with different natural preparations of plant and rock matter to help feed our soils," said Bergström.
Bergström's Winemaking Philosophy
Bergström Winery believes that winemaking begins and ends in the vineyard. 90% of what you enjoy in a glass of wine depends on a vineyard's performance in any given year. The winemaker's hand must not surpass its role of simply allowing a natural fermentation to take place in his cellar. We believe that Oregon Pinot Noir must have an intense purity of fruit that can only be achieved through natural, non-interventionist, non-industrial, artisan wine-growing.
Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming
Bergström Winery does not use any pesticides, insecticides, or herbicides in its vineyards.
The winery uses natural, organic, elemental-spray solutions to combat vine diseases like mildew and botrytis; natural and indigenous predatory insects and bacterium to control noxious pests; compost and verma compost teas instead of industrial fertilizers to feed our soils and young plants; and foliar sprays of kelp, fish emulsions, and pulverized plant and mineral elements to help maintain the health of our plants during the dry summer months.
Limited Production
Bergström Winery is dedicated to producing only as much wine as we can successfully farm using sustainable agriculture and organic practices. We are currently producing less than 5,000 cases/year so we can ensure our customers of enjoying the best in every bottle, every year. Currently our production looks like this:
60%
1000 cases Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
700 cases CumberlandReserve Pinot Noir
100 cases Arcus Pinot Noir
20%
600 cases Pinot Gris
10%
200 cases Chardonnay
10%
250 cases Syrah
The Winery
The winery building is designed to receive and process winegrapes in a gentle and natural manner. We have state of the art equipment, which ensures gentle handling of fruit to produce the purest final product. Our wines age in imported French oak barrels from the Troncais, Alliers, and Vosges forests. We use up to 50% new oak depending on each vintage and the wine's potential.
The Wine-Grower
For Joshua Bergström, our winemaker and vineyard manager, it is the day to day contact and work with each vineyard that offer him the best education. "Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris are personal and localized products, best learned from the vineyards they grow in."
Josh also received a post-graduate degree in Enology and Viticulture from the CFPA (Centre de Formation Professionelle Agricole) in Beaune France. He now has six years of Oregon winemaking experience.
Information above reprinted with permission of Bergström Winery
Josh Bergström on Tasting Wine
"...after some years of experience of tasting through young barrels of wine we look for two things: structure and potential. "
"Now, by structure, I mean the trinity of
1.) fruit
2.) acid,
3.) and tannin.
All of these elements are essential in determining a wine's character, balance, texture, appeal and potential for cellaring. If one is greater than the other a wine can be unbalanced, which can either be good or bad depending on our personal palates.
Heavy on the fruit but low on the acid an tannin can mean that we are holding in our glass a "fruit-bomb" destined to please most people but has little potential for pairing with diverse foods or lasting long in the cellar.
Too much acid or tannin with a deficit of fruit could mean that this wine needs some years to open up in the bottle to show its true potential although an imbalance in these two departments may never allow a wine to truly shine.)
But when all three are in agreement, a wine can really show us the character of the vintage and the vineyard with promise for the future."
