Antica Terra

The Free Bacchus Story

There is a difference between converting a vineyard and starting one. Antica Terra, founded in 2005, has been Demeter certified biodynamic across its Ribbon Ridge and Eola-Amity Hills sites from the beginning — nothing retrofitted, no transition period to survive, no habits to unlearn.

The Archaeum vineyard on Ribbon Ridge sits on ancient marine sedimentary soils, the Jory and Nekia series that define Willamette Valley's best sites. The estate's argument for biodynamics here is practical rather than philosophical: these soils visibly reward stewardship and visibly degrade under chemical management, and on ground this specific the difference shows up in the glass within a few vintages.

Biodynamics is usually described in terms of building soil fertility. Here there is barely any soil to build: eleven acres of fractured sandstone studded with fossil oyster shells, with essentially nothing on top of it. Harrison came north in 2005 from eight years at Sine Qua Non, the opposite end of the stylistic spectrum from anything Willamette Valley was doing.

The wines, led by the Ceras Pinot Noir, have drawn 97 points from Wine Advocate, the top of Oregon's critical hierarchy. The style is deeper and more structured than most of what the valley produces, which comes from old-vine material farmed carefully and then handled as little as possible once it reaches the cellar.

It is a small operation by American standards and the wines are allocated. Worth distinguishing between allocation that reflects genuine scarcity and allocation engineered to manufacture desire. Here it is the former, which is the less interesting kind of scarcity and the more honest one.