Andante Vineyard

Karen Saul and her husband Joe Allan established Andante in 2010 in the Van Duzer Corridor, planting the first Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc in 2011. The Sauvignon Blanc came from Karen’s love of Sancerre — an unusual thing to put in the ground in the Willamette Valley at the time, and now one of the winery’s flagship wines. Aligoté and Gamay Noir followed.

The estate covers 15 acres of vines on 42 total, the rest given to gardens, oak woods, a pond, and pasture. Soils are shallow marine sediment, silty clay loam over siltstone bedrock. The Van Duzer winds blow through every afternoon, thickening the grape skins, and that’s where the wines get their structure. They built a 5,000-square-foot production facility in 2018 and now offer custom crush alongside their own work.

Erin Percheron and Alec Ives make the wine. Erin came to Oregon in 2008, studied environmental science at the University of Oregon, caught the winemaking bug in 2015 with a first harvest at Iris Vineyards, and worked in Oregon, California, and New Zealand before earning a UC Davis winemaking certification and joining Andante in 2020. Alec studied linguistics in Arizona intending to become an interpreter, found the valley in 2016, worked tasting rooms across it, and is also the estate beekeeper.

Everything is fermented naturally with native yeast, blocks and clones kept separate until blending just before bottling. Production stays under 3,000 cases. The LIVE-certified estate has scored well — 93 points from Vinous for the rosé — and nothing is sold off as fruit anymore.

Tasting happens in the production facility with a fire going on cold days and Adirondack chairs facing the vines when it’s warm. There’s a real kitchen with a seasonal menu, a guest house on the property, and cranes that roost in the trees by the pond at dusk.