The Winemaker’s Story

Despite growing up in the vineyard, and benefiting from the occasional day of hooky from school during harvest, she never seriously thought her vocation would be in wine. With the support and guidance of Jason Lett (The Eyrie Vineyards), her mentor, Anneka made her first two barrels of Tukwilla Pinot noir that year at the age of 21. Two more vintages (2011 & 2012) as a student-winemaker, affirmed that her craft was in wine, not newspaper articles and, (after a mistake-ridden 2011 vintage) that she needed to learn more about it. So, Anneka applied and was accepted to the Centre de Formation Professionnelle et du Promotion Agricole in Beaune, Burgundy, France.

In 2013, she joined the team at E.A.R.L. Domaine Pavelot in Pernand-Vergelesses as stagière and began her studies. Under the guidance of Luc Pavelot, she learned to appreciate the length of the day, the space around each vine, and the consequence of each bud, each shoot, each cluster. After completing the accelerated program in French and receiving her Brevet de Technicien Supérieur in viticulture and œnologie, Anneka returned to Oregon in 2014.

Guided by her education in the traditions of Oregon and Burgundy, Anneka’s objective every vintage is to shepherd all the complexity of the growing season through the fermentation process to create something authentically real, which captures and holds in liquid suspension the essence of those details.