The Eola-Amity hills lie in the center of the Willamette Valley just North and West of Salem. Volcanic soils that limit the vigor of the vines and the daily, acidity-saving ocean winds coming through the Van Duzer corridor directly to its West set apart this sub-zone of the Valley. Craig and Gabriel Keeler bought a long-abandoned 200-acre property there in 1990 and set to clearing the parts most suitable for vineyards, planting 30 acres, but the Keelers were dedicated to polyculture from the beginning and so there are fruit trees, beehives, insectaries, gardens, streams, lakes, woods and abundant wildlife. Today the vineyard and winery is certified sustainable, organic, biodynamic and salmon safe. This wine is a “skin-contact” Pinot Gris, distinct from a “skin-ferment”, because it had a 7-day cold-soak on the skins before fermentation was allowed to begin. That gives the wine a lovely copper color, but does not extract the bitter tannins and deeper color that would make the wine cloudy and amber, and keeps the focus on the wonderful floral and fresh fruit notes.