Troon Vineyard is certified Organic, Biodynamic, and Regenerative Organic not just in the vineyard but also in the winery. Winemaking certification is completely separate from vineyard certification, and these certifications all put a variety of constraints on what we are allowed to do in the cellar. However, winemaking at Troon Vineyard is first and foremost guided by our minimal intervention philosophy, where we choose to make our wines as naturally as possible to allow the subtle, nuanced, and delicate flavors, aromas, and textures coming from our vineyard to make it through the winemaking process and into the final wine unscathed. We want our wines to directly reflect place, imbued with Troon’s unique sense of “terroir”.

Most wine on the market is commercial rather than artisanal. These large production wines are often heavily manipulated, almost “constructed”, and cannot connect to the earth from which they were grown. Even at smaller-scale vineyards farmed conventionally, that connection back to the land can be muddled if the winemaker’s imprint is less than delicate. Contrast these with Biodynamic practices: in the context of wine, BD acts as a powerful lens that can bring into focus the many abstract qualities that imbue a place with a distinct identity. So, Biodynamic grape growing is a beautiful tool for creating and strengthening that unique sense of place in wine.

Winegrowing

Our winemaking process naturally begins in our vineyard. Before the start of each growing season, we set an intention for the specific wine we want to make from each block and sub-block (sometimes even down to individual vineyard rows!). Starting at budbreak, we then farm each area organically and Biodynamically to achieve our winemaking goals - truly the definition of “winegrowing” - making decisions on things like pruning, canopy size, crop levels, nutrition, any additional Biodynamic preparations or compost teas, cover cropping, and water stress levels to guide the vine’s development. Producing ripe, balanced fruit is important at any vineyard, but this is especially so at Troon Vineyard because we do not manipulate the incoming grape chemistry in any way. We have meticulously farmed our fruit all year so that the acidity, sugar levels, flavors, and phenolic ripeness (tannins) all come together for us to make the most important winemaking decision of all - when to pick the fruit.

Harvest

Fall harvest is a very special time of the year for the vineyard, where all of the hard work throughout the growing season comes to fruition. At Troon, we focus on pH (acidity) rather than sugar or Brix levels as our most important harvest criteria. The proper acidity level of a finished wine is critical for achieving balance, and lower pHs (higher acids) are also needed to ensure microbial stability, which is made even more important due to Troon’s incredibly low sulfur levels in our final wines. Many (likely most) wineries will base their picking decisions on getting extremely ripe fruit. Most of the naturally occurring acidity in the grape has greatly diminished, meaning that the winery must heavily acidulate the incoming fruit, typically by adding tartaric acid. This is often the first of many “corrections” made at a typical winery. This is why it is vital at Troon that we achieve truly balanced grape chemistry in the vineyard since we make no such adjustments after the grapes are picked.

Winemaking

In the United States, there are currently 76 allowable additives to wine and juice (only one of which - sulfites - must be stated on the label). There are also dozens (maybe hundreds?) of allowable “processing aids” that are not considered additives but can profoundly impact the final product.  It is common practice for most wineries to add many additives and processing aids to the incoming fruit to alter the sweetness, acidity, tannins, color, flavor, and aroma extractability. At Troon, we do none of this - we use the grapes and juice precisely as they were picked, and all of our fermentations start spontaneously with no added yeasts. 

We approach winemaking at Troon from curiosity and a love for experimentation. Examples include having multiple uses for the same grape (used for both white and orange/amber wine, or both carbonic maceration and rosé, or for both sparkling and still wine, or red wine and fortified wine, the list goes on); co-fermentations (allowing two or more grapes or juices to complete the fermentation process together, in some ways creating a new “varietal” wine); diverse fermentation vessels (matching the vessel to the wine, including concrete tanks/eggs/dolia, terra cotta amphorae, very neutral French oak or acacia barrels, etc); and whole cluster fermentations (including all or a portion of the grape stems into the fermentation process of red and orange/amber wines). Our job as winemakers is to shepherd the grapes through the fermentation and aging process, and we must remain open to multiple possibilities for where that may lead a wine.

Élevage

The French have a term for wine as it progresses from fermentation to bottle - élevage. Like the English word “elevate”, élevage means “to raise”, used the same way we talk about raising a child. As a father of two, I love this comparison, as it is a very useful metaphor for our winemaking approach at Troon.

As parents, we always want what is best for our kids. Particularly when they are young, we often think we know what is better than they do. But as they age and mature, we might realize that our ideas about who and what they will become just might not fit them. Perhaps the best we can do is to provide at least some minimal guard rails but then let them chart their path toward their future. They may not end up where we expected, but their choices are their own, and they can live authentically.

There is both freedom and profound beauty in this journey of becoming. It is this approach to élevage that we find ourselves taking with many of the wines at Troon. Minimal intervention winemaking does not allow us to impose our winemaking directly upon the nascent wines. We must allow ourselves to be a bit more open and vulnerable and relinquish that control to allow each wine to discover its path. 

Fermentation

Fermentation (sometimes called primary fermentation) is the process whereby the sugar in the harvested grapes is converted into alcohol (and carbon dioxide) by microorganisms, most notably by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Variations of this organism are omnipresent in our environment, which is how wine has been a part of humanity for millennia. If left to their own devices, all grapes will eventually ferment naturally. Many studies have found that yeast strains seem to vary consistently throughout different regions, meaning that the native yeast populations in an area feature strongly in the unique identity or terroir of wines from that region.

At Troon, we fully embrace this “microbial terroir” concept as all of our fermentations occur spontaneously, with no commercial yeasts added. We have worked hard to cultivate healthy, thriving, diverse microbial life in our vineyard with our Biodynamic and Regenerative Organic growing practices, and we see no reason to disrupt this healthy microbiome when it enters the cellar. Most wineries immediately add sulfur to harvested grapes to sterilize the juice, killing off all microbes. This ensures that the commercial yeast they will add to the ferment becomes dominant without competition from the native microorganisms. We do not add sulfur at crush, preserving the entirety of the microbiota from our vineyard. Our spontaneous wine ferments are, therefore, complex microbial ecosystems, not a monoculture of a single strain of commercial yeast (in much the same way as our vineyard is not simply a monoculture of wine grape vines, but rather a resilient, biodiverse farm - the intention is the same).

Whole Cluster Fermentation

Troon harvests all of our fruit by hand. This allows us to select only the best clusters for harvest while providing us with fruit on the stems. These stems are often incorporated into the winemaking process (known as “whole cluster” inclusion), a technique impossible with mechanically harvested fruit. The use of whole cluster has the potential to change the wine in a myriad of ways: broadening out the mid-palate of the wine and adding to the wine’s overall texture; adding herbal, woody, or spicy characteristics (and unlike oak, which can also do some of those things, these flavors are actually coming from a part of the grapevine - the stem - and not from an entirely different source altogether); perhaps counterintuitively whole cluster can add freshness to the fruit character, often due to uncrushed whole berries in the ferment still attached to the stems going “semi-carbonic”; providing additional tannins that over time can polymerize (add onto) the grape tannins resulting in a rounder and richer tannic expression; and naturally reducing wine acidity (raising the pH) resulting in a softer, smoother wine. We use whole clusters in various percentages in combination with destemmed fruit (grapes only) for almost all of our red and amber wines at Troon.

Vessels

Much thought and intention is put into which vessels are used for fermentation at Troon (the same is true of aging). Different vessels have different characteristics, making them a better fit for different wines. Some of the traits we consider when selecting fermentation vessels include: open or closed top; the shape or dimensions of the vessel (height vs width, egg shape, etc); porosity of the vessel material; cleanability (related to porosity in that more porous vessels are also more difficult to clean); heat conduction of the vessel material (or lack thereof); and potential impact on wine flavor (spoiler - at Troon, we make sure everything we use is neutral, and does not impact the wine flavors).

An example is selecting an open-top fermenter for most red and amber wines. These wines require daily cap management - physically punching down the rising “cap” of grapes (and sometimes stems) that float to the top during fermentation. An open-top vessel simplifies this punch-down process than a closed-top vessel. Similarly, the vessel's shape plays a role - short and fat means more surface area on the top, the opposite of tall and skinny (which encourages settling). 

The vessel material plays a large role in porosity, cleanability, and heat transfer. Concrete and terra cotta are rather similar here in that they are somewhat porous (allows gas transfer - oxygen and carbon dioxide), and therefore also somewhat difficult to clean (wineries that rely on sterilization vs sanitation would never use these vessels). They have fairly low heat conductance, which during fermentation means they heat up slowly, never get incredibly hot, and then maintain that heat for a much longer period. This affects the fermentation kinetics (longer and slower) and how various compounds are extracted into the wine. The opposite of this is stainless steel: stainless steel is completely non-porous, very easy to clean, and has high heat conduction. This means fermentations may heat up faster but lose heat to the environment faster, resulting in hotter, shorter ferments. We generally avoid stainless steel for fermentation except for our ancestral method, sparkling wines, where we can use this high amount of heat transfer to our benefit to cool down the wines to allow us to bottle them at the appropriate sugar content to create the bubbles in the bottle.

Lastly, I want to discuss wood. More specifically, oak barrels (ours are all French, although many wineries also use American or Hungarian oak; Troon also has some barrels made from acacia). Like concrete and terra cotta, wood is a porous material with a relatively low heat conductance. Even though porous, cleaning is much easier because we can use steam to open up the wood's pores, much like a sauna - concrete or terra cotta tend to crack when subjected to such treatment. However, my biggest concern with using oak barrels is the vessel’s flavor neutrality (or lack thereof). Stainless steel, concrete, and terra cotta all do not impart any flavors to the wine fermented or aged in them; oak can and usually does impart flavors, and at many wineries, oak is used explicitly for this reason. Thus, at Troon, we have no new (or even new-ish) oak in our cellar.

Even modest amounts of new oak barrels are the surest way of destroying the soul of a wine. There can be no expression of a wine’s unique place, personality, or terroir; call it what you will, when that wine is absolutely clobbered with the dominating and overbearing flavors and aromas that come from new (or even new-ish) barrels. It can often be difficult even to discern the dominant grape in a heavily oaked wine - the toast and seasoning of the barrel obscures all varietal character. That’s why all barrels used at Troon are “neutral”, meaning that they have been in use for several years (typically 4-10+ years in our cellar) such that they no longer impart flavor to the wine - they are now merely holding vessels. So, while we do use neutral French oak barrels for most of our white and rosé wine fermentation and the aging of red and amber wines (more below), our barrels do not alter the flavors of the wines stored in them.

Malolactic Fermentation

Malolactic fermentation, or MLF, is a process where a wine’s malic acid is converted to lactic acid by certain types of microorganisms. These microorganisms are naturally present, and at Troon Vineyard, this process occurs spontaneously (many wineries inoculate for MLF with a commercial strain of bacteria). Malic acid is a tart, green acid (think Granny Smith apple), while lactic acid is softer and creamier (lactic acid is found in milk). Malolactic fermentation thus decreases the acidity of wine and creates an overall richness across the palate.

Sulfites in the wine inhibit MLF; thus, many wineries will add sulfites specifically to prevent this process, especially in most white wines, and prevent this natural loss of acidity. Well, at Troon we do not add any sulfites to the wine until closer to bottling, thus there is nothing to prevent this natural process from occurring. This means that ALL wines at Troon Vineyard go through malolactic fermentation, including all of our white and rosé wines. This is another reason we make harvest decisions based on pH, knowing that we will have this natural deacidification step occur and thus want higher acids at harvest to account for this. (Conveniently, higher acids at harvest also generally equate to lower sugar levels, which means lower alcohol levels in the finished wines). Having all wines fully go through MLF also lends additional microbial stability to our wines, allowing us to use substantially fewer sulfites - more on this in a minute.

Aging

After fermentation, the wine may age for six to eighteen months in the cellar before being bottled. As in fermentation, at Troon, this aging may occur in a variety of different vessel types, and all of the same considerations as to vessel material, shape, porosity, etc, also apply to aging. A wine may end up being aged in the same vessel used for fermentation (our barrel ferments for white and rosé wines for example). Sometimes, we choose to age in a different vessel. For example, the open-top bins used for the fermentation of red and amber wines would make poor aging vessels as that large surface area (beneficial for fermentation) would allow too much oxygen uptake during the aging process, so after pressing, we transfer the wine into neutral oak barrels, concrete tanks or terra cotta amphorae.

At Troon, we age our wines on their primary “lees” (mostly made up of dead yeast cells) until bottling. Many wineries frequently “rack” their aging wines - moving the wines off the lees and either into a different clean vessel or back into the same vessel (typically a barrel) once it has had the lees removed and re-cleaned. This agitation of the wine also results in oxygen pickup, which at most wineries is met with increasing amounts of added sulfites to combat oxidation. At Troon, we use incredibly low amounts of sulfur, and we off on adding them until as late in the process as possible. We thus avoid racking our wines until right before bottling when the wines are blended in tank. This allows for a longer, undisturbed aging process and significantly lower final sulfite levels in our wines.

The vessel can also play a large role in how the lees interact with the wine during aging. One example of this is the concrete egg: the shape of the egg encourages convection currents that gently stir the wine, keeping the lees in suspension rather than settling to the bottom. While this process may be done manually at many wineries (stirring barrels of Chardonnay, for example), this involves opening up the vessel and exposing it to more oxygen, leading to higher sulfur levels being needed. The concrete egg accomplishes a similar function while remaining closed and undisturbed. Another interesting example is the terra cotta amphorae. Clay somewhat uniquely carries a negative charge. This means positively charged particles (such as many of the proteins found in the wine lees) are attracted like a magnet to the vessel. So instead of settling to the bottom of the amphorae, the lees stick to the sides as well, creating more lees interaction with the aging wine almost (and again, without opening the vessel, stirring, and introducing more oxygen).

Sulfites

Especially in the “natural wine” community, sulfites in wine are a big source of contention. There is no agreed-upon definition of “natural wine”, so people may use that term and have very different ideas about what that means. Some feel that sulfur is the only thing that matters for a wine to be “natural” - use chemically-intensive farming to grow the grape, add all manner of enological products in the winery, but as long as you don’t add any sulfur then that wine is “natural”. We feel that “natural” farming needs to start with certified organic farming at a minimum, preferably biodynamic, regenerative organic farming. Then, after harvest, the winery should allow for spontaneous fermentations, with no manipulations or “correcting” of harvest chemistry. We feel that a small addition of sulfites to the wine before bottling that wine unfined and unfiltered can be very important in preserving the character and extending the age-ability of that wine. For most of our wines, sulfites are the only additive they ever receive. 

In the United States, winemakers can add up to 350 parts per million (ppm) sulfites. Wines with the “Made with Organic Grapes” certification and Biodynamic wines are allowed to have up to 100 ppm of sulfites. At Troon, our final total sulfite levels generally hover around 30 - 40 ppm (some of our sparkling wines have no sulfur added). This is a tenth of what is allowed in conventional wines and less than half of organic and Biodynamic regulations. It should be noted that this amount of sulfites is also much less than what can be found in other commonly consumed items, such as bagged salads, dried fruits, and certain preserved meats. 

Blending

We grow twenty different varieties of wine grapes at Troon Vineyard. Most of these grapes share a deep history, having been grown together for centuries (or more) in the Rhône Valley, the Languedoc, and in Southwest France. These grapes were very complementary - some earlier ripening, some later, some higher acid or higher sugar, some lower - such that the best expression of these grapes is often created by blending them. Thus, we do a lot of blending at Troon. While we sometimes “blend” co-harvested grapes, known as “co-fermentation”, that’s an entirely separate topic.

The first step in blending is tasting through each barrel/vessel in the cellar. This occurs over several rounds of tastings, where the contents of each vessel are analyzed and discussed. This discussion includes reviewing how each decision in the vineyard and winery combined to create each wine and whether any adjustments should be made in the future. We then start making trial blends based on our initial thoughts of what might work best together. We often make dozens of iterations of each blend, varying a barrel here and there, to finally hone in on the best expression for each wine for a given vintage. Once these blends are finalized, barrels are gently racked to tank together using nitrogen to prepare them for bottling.

Bottling and Labeling

The final step in a wine's journey from the vineyard, through the cellar, and ultimately to the consumer, is the bottling process. As is the case with all of our vessels at Troon, much thought is put into each component of this final vessel.

For once, Troon Vineyard has opted for the traditional route of putting almost all of our wine into glass bottles. Glass is an excellent storage material for wine, being completely inert and impervious to oxygen transfer. It is also recyclable and potentially reusable - Troon has started bottling into Revino bottles, which can be collected, cleaned, and sold back to wineries for reuse multiple times. The biggest downside to glass is its weight.

Wine bottles vary dramatically in their empty weight, with the lightest being around 400 grams (0.9 lbs) up to over 1,200 grams (2.7 lbs) for the heaviest. All of that extra weight uses more raw material (glass), increases the shipping cost (both empty bottles getting to the winery and full bottles being shipped to distributors by the pallet or to consumers by the bottle), and subsequently increases the carbon footprint. So there is an obvious case for using light-weight glass, and virtually no reason beyond ego for using heavier bottles.

At Troon, we use the “second lightest” bottle we could find. This is because there is another aspect to be considered beyond just weight - country and location of origin. All of the absolute lightest bottles on the market are made in Europe. And while transport via container ship is an efficient method from a carbon footprint/emissions perspective, that is still a long distance to transport empty bottles to the West Coast. The bottles we have chosen to use weigh just a little bit more (467 grams), but are fired in the Pacific Northwest. This means the glass plants are subject to US environmental regulations and worker protections (unlike Chinese glass, a major producer of glass bottles), and the transport distance is significantly reduced. Until something better comes, we believe this is our best and most sustainable option. 

We are also excited to begin using Revino glass as a potentially reusable option; however, to survive the collection and cleaning process, these bottles are slightly bulkier (495 grams), and the collection and reuse efforts are currently only available in Oregon. So any Revino bottles that get sent out of state cannot be reused and will have a slightly higher cost and footprint due to the extra weight. Troon wholeheartedly supports bottle reuse and a more circular economy, so we are currently bottling in Revino those wines that are mainly sold and distributed within Oregon. 

Another important component of the wine packaging is the closure used to seal the glass bottle. Troon uses Diam Origine closures for all of our wines. Diam developed a process of grinding down the raw cork and using supercritical carbon dioxide to strip TCA (cork taint) and many other undesirable compounds from the small cork particles. The Origine line of Diam corks combines these cork particles using a plant-based binder and beeswax to form the final cork shape. Diam Origine corks are thus plastic- and petro-chemical-free and guarantee the quality of the wine throughout its lifetime in the bottle.

The last component of the wine packaging to touch upon is the label. We must consider both what the label is made out of and how it is applied to the bottle, and what is written on the label itself. Our labels are made from tree-free recycled cotton “paper”. They must adhere to bottles using a special adhesive that keeps the label affixed to the bottle while also being able to be removed during Revino’s cleaning and reuse process. The challenge of what to write on the label is complicated by the minimal amount of space we have to work with.

Troon makes a point to list all grape varieties and the wine ingredients on each wine label. The somewhat recent increased consumer adoption of QR codes has allowed us an excellent option to link each bottle of wine back to our website, where we can now provide in-depth nutritional information and wine chemistry and more technical information about how each wine is made. We prefer to provide this information rather than tasting notes of what flavor profiles the consumer “should” taste, as everyone’s palate differs. Therefore, everyone can and will perceive the same wine differently. What matters to us is being as transparent as possible about our wine growing and making processes and educating our consumers about how the flavors they are tasting came about. We hope you enjoy our wines and learn something in the process!