Winderlea Vineyard & Winery

The Free Bacchus Story

Bill Sweat and Donna Morris fell for Pinot Noir in the early 1990s, and in 2006 they left Boston for Oregon’s Dundee Hills. The vineyard they bought on Worden Hill Road had been planted in 1974, which makes it one of the older vineyards in the Willamette Valley, and it came with a problem. Phylloxera, the root louse that slowly kills vines, was already in the ground.

Sweat decided the best way to keep those vines healthy was to farm biodynamically. He had grown up in New England, where farmers planted by the almanac, so working to a calendar did not feel strange. Much of the work is done by hand. Several times a year the biodynamic growers of the area gather to stir the preparations for an hour before they are sprayed, and sheep, goats and chickens live among the vines. The estate vineyard has been farmed this way since 2009, and Demeter certified it in 2015.

The Dundee Hills sit south-west of Portland, sheltered by the Coast Range from the Pacific rain, and the soil is a red volcanic clay called Jory. This is Oregon’s Pinot Noir country, cooler and wetter than Napa, and the wines are usually lighter and fresher than California Pinot. Winderlea describes its own vineyard’s wine as dried red cherry and raspberry, with a hint of orange zest.

The second vineyard has the better story. Worden Hill was planted in 1977 and ripped out in 1997 to make room for horses. When new owners prepared the ground for replanting in 2001, they found the old roots had survived, and within a few vintages the original vines were bearing grapes again. Winderlea now leases and farms it, and Demeter certified it in 2021. In all, the winery farms 42 acres, and it says every one of them is certified.

Sweat and Morris also ran Winderlea as a certified B Corp from March 2015, a business assessed on how it treats its workers, community and environment as well as on profit. In January 2026 they sold the winery to Joth Ricci, a former chief executive of Adelsheim Vineyard, and his family.

It is worth knowing which bottles the certificate reaches. Demeter USA lists Winderlea Wine Company as both a certified vineyard and a certified winery, in a list from November 2025, before the sale. Some bottles carry the Made with Biodynamic Grapes label, among them Legacy and Ewes’ View. Winderlea also makes single-vineyard wines from outside growers such as Shea and Weber, and those list B Corp alone. The USDA organic register has no entry for Winderlea.

Legacy is the flagship, made only from the own-rooted Pommard and Dijon 115 vines that survive from the 1970s planting, and it runs to about 150 cases a vintage. Ewes’ View, from Worden Hill, carries the same label at less than half the price.