Fly High/longsword Vineyard: Winemakers Pressed Into Short Season

Harvest and crushing season compressed from six weeks to two as Applegate Valley wineries deal with late harvest caused by cool, wet spring.

Peaceful, sunny fields bordered by blue-green mountains spread from the door of Fly High/LongSword's brand new crush pad/winery: a renovated airplane hangar. Vines planted next to a former runway thrive under the October sun, as a hawk cry echoes over the valley. Winemaker Matthew Sorensen remarks, "We're picking in two weeks instead of six weeks again this year, just like last year. It seems like with wine, there's a busy time, and a busier time."

Fly High and LongSword Vineyards, joined together in 2008 for the mutual benefit to both companies, are expanding with the opening of a new crush pad/winery. Fly High vineyard was planted on the site of a runway and the airplane hangar is home to shiny new crushing equipment, most of it Italian in origin. The winery is crushing 30 tons of grapes this year, and hopes to eventually be doing 75 tons. However, Sorensen is "more concerned with quality over quantity," and not looking to expand beyond Oregon distribution.

"I believe that the taste of the fruit should come out in the wine," philosophizes Sorensen. Making wine with a non-fruit flavor is like "drowning a good piece of meat in a sauce," he says decidedly. "The three words I do not want to hear in a white wine description are 'toasty oak flavors.'"

The emphasis on quality oversees the entire wine-making process. After the grapes are hand-picked and brought in from the field, whole clusters are poured into the hopper. They spill onto a slow conveyor belt, where the grapes are sorted out by hand and deposited into the crusher. There, a paddle gently rotates horizontally, extruding stems at the end and squeezing the crushed fruit and juice into a bottom tray. This mixture is pumped into 12-foot stainless steel fermenters, where it is slowly fermented over a two-week period.

Although Fly High/LongSword Vineyards are not officially organically certified, they do use organic practices and are in the process of being certified with LIVE, a non-profit environmental sustainability organization, making the Vineyard popular with organic-loving locals. Paragliders are another group of fans, often landing in the field next to the Tasting Room in order to quench their thirst with a glass of award-winning Accolade Sparkling Chardonnay. Sorensen calls them "my fruit flies."

Sorensen smiles wryly while he lists off the many challenges an Applegate Valley winemaker faces: freezing, mold, mildew, migratory birds, even black bears looking for a snack. Still, he enjoys putting his background as a fermentation scientist into a personal passion. "I love winemaking because I like to enjoy the fruit of my labors," he says. Favorite kind of wine? "Whatever's in my glass."

About FlyHigh/LongSword Vineyard

Longsword Vineyard/Fly High Vineyard formed a beneficial partnership to create award winning wine. While the grapes are kept separate, the vineyards now share a common logo. LongSword, a translation of Largaespada, and Fly High, honoring David King's flying days, are merged in the FHLV label, featuring the outline of pilot's wings with a biplane silhouette flying above an unsheathed sword. www.longswordvineyard.com