A Tale of Accident and Opportunity – from Southern Oregon Wine Scene Fall Winter 2015 issue

The story of how Don and Traute Moore came to establish the largest wine-growing operation in Southern Oregon begins with a broken car window that kept them in Ashland waiting for a new piece of glass. And being curious, they wandered out to Talent and happened on a piece of land that had a small vineyard on it. They bought the land in 1989 and Don, a retired MD but a farmer at heart, got very interested in growing grapes.

The next thing that spurred the development of this ground-breaking enterprise was happenstance much like the one that caused Don and Traute to linger in the Rogue Valley in the first place. They went out picking huckleberries with Corrine and Porter Lombard. The two couples hit it off and went to dinner together. Only after they got to know each other did they realize they had a tremendous interest in common—growing wine grapes.

Porter Lombard was precisely the person Don and Traute needed to meet as they were becoming more involved in viticulture. Known as the father of the modern Rogue Valley wine industry, Professor Lombard had served as Superintendent of the Oregon State University Experiment Station on Hanley Road. He demonstrated that several wine grape varietals thrived in the Rogue Valley. Cuttings from Lombard’s experimental vineyard enabled many farmers to make a change from producing stone fruit or—in the case of pioneer winegrower John Ousterhout—turkeys.

By the time he met the Moores, Lombard had retired but he was keen to take a trip to Australia to visit colleagues having an impact on the mushrooming wine industry there. Don and Traute went along. The two couples visited the Adelaide winegrowing region and Porter introduced the Moores to Richard Smart. An internationally-known viticulturalist, Smart is co-originator of the Smart-Dyson system, a style of trellising grape vines to maximize light penetration of the canopy, limiting moisture-related problems and the need for pesticides and mildew-retardant chemicals.

As a result of that trip, the Moores and their colleagues in the Southern Oregon Winegrowers Association brought Richard Smart to the Rogue Valley to share his knowledge with the region’s trail-blazing growers. Based on the benefit of that exchange, other renowned experts followed, notably Lucy Morton, a Virginia native trained in enology and viticulture at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Montpellier, France. Lucy Morton changed the way the Moores trained their canopies. In addition, Morton’s research into root stock disease led to the discovery that the most commonly used root stock in California, AXR2, was not resistant to phylloxera. She recommended a switch to 3309 and 101-14, root stocks Rogue Valley growers have used with excellent results.

Don and Traute kept experimenting with trellis and irrigation systems and tried-out new grapes in various vineyard microclimates. The Moores were the first to grow Syrah, Viognier and Grenache in Oregon, Rhone varietals which seem particularly well-suited to the Rogue Valley. By 2010 their original 13 acres had expanded to 280, and the number of varietals planted had grown to 28. The expansion of Quail Run Vineyards can be truly appreciated only in the context of the quality of the grapes Don and Traute produced. They were phenomenal. Consider Griffin Creek, a cult label produced entirely from Quail Run grapes by Willamette Valley Vineyards.

Less than ten years after the estate’s founding, Quail Run fruit was prized by scores of wineries throughout the state, mostly in the Willamette Valley. In 2006, Don recalls, the Moores decided to launch their own label, South Stage Cellars, and start winning some medals of their own. They established a tasting room in the 1865 brick building in downtown Jacksonville known for being the home of Robbie Collins, the citizen who worked tirelessly to save the town from the wrecking ball by getting it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to South Stage Cellars vintages, the tasting room showcases over 20 labels, all wines made from Quail Run grapes.

But then, the unexpected departure of the Quail Run vineyard manager led to a new turn of events. Don and Traute’s son, a filmmaker with no prior experience in growing grapes, jumped in to fill the gap. And, as with the original unexpected turn of events that led the Moores to Talent, this one also had a great outcome. It just so happens Michael Moore loves the work, mostly because he loves the people he works with, about 22 vineyard workers who hail from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Because he happens to speak Spanish and is able to converse with the vineyard crews, Michael has had an education in viticulture from the ground up, one that he wouldn’t trade for any other. As a result, he’s able to enlist the intellect and observations of his crews to keep him informed of what’s going on in each block, and to give him expert opinions on what needs to be done in a given situation. “Now everyone is responsible,” he says, “thinking and talking about what’s going on in the vineyard, making group decisions. It makes my job so much more interesting.”

And you’d have to say Michael is a quick study. Reaching-out to fellow growers all over the country for new ideas, he has already started to innovate. While bringing the total vineyard area to about 480 acres, significantly increasing the presence of Pinot Noir, he has instituted a ground-breaking change in the watering scheme for the Pinot Noir blocks, installing overhead sprinklers that harken back to watering practices in-use before drip irrigation came into vogue. The rationale is based on the observation that rain-watered vines send their roots widely out into the space between rows, whereas drip-irrigated vines tend to have roots bunched close to the water source. The wider spreading of roots increases the area from which they absorb trace elements from the soil, which translates to more flavor and richness of terroir. Overhead sprinklers are also effective in reducing the temperature of the vines on hot days, retarding premature elevation of sugar levels and allowing more subtle flavors to develop through longer time on the vine.

“It’s all part of a plan,” Michael Moore says, “to produce ultra-premium Pinot Noir.” Great news from Quail Run where things just keep getting bigger and better. But knowing the Moores, I’d suspect that even with that excellent plan there will always be room for the odd accident that makes for opportunity.

Featured image is of Traute, Don and Michael Moore. Photo ©David Gibb Photography & Design.