Good Wine, Healthy Planet: How Soter Vineyards is Moving Sustainable Viticulture Forward

In 1965 – just three years before the founding of Oregon Environmental Council – the first Pinot Noir variety was planted in the Willamette Valley by David Lett. At the time, Oregon wine was commercially non-existent; the climate in the region, skeptics thought, was far too cold and wet to produce the quality grapes necessary for quality wine. Lett didn’t know just how wrong his viticultural experiment would prove them to be. A lot has changed in the 60 years that followed Lett’s first harvest. For one, the industry has unquestionably boomed – going from zero vineyards in the early 60s to over a thousand today, producing some of the ...