Trisaetum Vineyards

Trisaetum Vineyards
18401 Ribbon Ridge Rd
Newberg, Oregon
USA 97132
Phone: (503) 538-9898
http://www.trisaetum.com/

Contact: James Frey
Email: [email protected]

Fate and Good Fortune. Most good stories have a little of both, and this story is no exception. It actually began fifty-five million years ago when Trisaetum’s estate vineyard was on the floor of the Pacific near an extensive line of submarine volcanoes and fate chose that one such volcano would erupt in that very location, spewing lava through the ocean floor, scattering glassy basalt nodules across the seascape, and leaving a unique mixture of volcanic and sedimentary soil that just so happens to be perfect for grapes. Unfortunately for grapes, the soil was at the bottom of ocean.

In a few years, fortune followed fate when the coastal mountains of the Pacific Northwest squeezed their way through that same lava field placing half of it on the coastline at Cape Kiwanda...and the other half thirty-five miles inland on the east side of the Oregon coast range. This activity left it not only dry, but with the precise combination of soil, elevation, orientation, temperature, and micro-climate necessary to make something extraordinary from two of nature’s most site specific grapes---Pinot Noir and Riesling.

How that unique corner of the world became Trisaetum Vineyards began a few million years later in 1995, the day after James and Andrea Frey were married. Driving from their wedding in Sedona to their camping honeymoon in Yosemite, fate intervened when a mid-June snowstorm blanketed the national park. Their honeymoon destination now closed to the public, the newlyweds sat in the remote town of Ely, Nevada and contemplated whether to turn around and go home, turn right, or turn left. They choose left and ended up in Napa Valley where they spent three days wandering through vineyards, laughing about their misfortune, visiting tasting rooms, touring various wineries, laughing some more about their misfortune, and developing an instant love affair with wine.

Within a few years this love affair of wine matured into a love affair with both Pinot Noir and Riesling. James planted a small vineyard in the couple’s backyard and began taking over various rooms in their home to experiment making wine. After the couple welcomed a son Tristen and daughter Tatum (for whom Trisaetum Vineyards is named), the entire family began to work each year’s small crush, and talk of moving the family to wine country became a more frequent conversation; a conversation that seemed to always finish in the same place, a place beginning to be known as “the area” if you were serious about making serious Pinot Noir, the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

Winemaker: Greg McClellan

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