The Sheep are Baaaaaack
Over the last couple of weeks King Estate welcomed 1,500 mini lawn mowers to our 1,033 acre certified organic property. The borrowed sheep quickly eat overgrown grasses and weeds in our vineyard so we don’t have to run our mechanical lawn mowers and weeding equipment, which saves fuel, time, and money. The sheep get free organic food at our all you can eat buffet and add a certain charm to the estate. These furry visitors can only do their job in the early spring before bud break entices them to munch on vines instead of the mustard flowers and knee deep grass. This is our third year bringing in sheep to offset the use of tractors and other machinery that run on fossil fuels, 1,500 sheep is almost three times as many as we have ever had on the property at once. Check out the video above featuring Vineyard Manager Meliton Martinez and the photos below to see the first 700 sheep arrive.
The People Have Spoken: King Estate is Eugene's Best Winery & Best Wedding Venue
King Estate stood out in the 4th Annual Register Guard Reader’s Choice Awards. We are honored to have won the reader voted contest in two categories as Eugene’s Best Local Winery and Best Wedding Venue. Make sure to check out the rest of the winners. We also pulled in second place for Eugene’s Best Outdoor Dining option, not bad considering we are 20 miles out of town!
Earlier this year we also took home “Best Winery” in the Eugene Weekly’s annual ‘Best of Eugene’. They summed it up pretty well:
King Estate, with its pristine setting in the heart of the Willamette Valley’s wine country provides the perfect spot to sample its array of masterful wine. One can sit and enjoy a glass and a gourmet meal overlooking the certified organic vineyard in a most picturesque setting. This year the vineyard celebrates its twentieth anniversary and continues to produce some of the most exceptional wines with grapes grown in its own vineyard as well as from various other Northwest regions. King Estate’s creations illustrate time and again why the Northwest is known for its wine.
King Estate Wins Best Savory Bite at FFLC's Chefs' Night Out 2012
The 2012 Chef’s Night Out brought together Lane County’s finest restaurants, wineries, and microbreweries to benefit Food for Lane County at the Hult Center in Eugene, OR. Chefs’ Night Out has become one of, if not the premiere Lane County food and wine event, and King Estate is proud to have once again been the title sponsor for the event for the fourth year in a row.
People Say…
Welcome to the first edition of People say…. A post in which we round up links to recent articles, blog posts, and occasionally social media mentions for King Estate or about subjects we find interesting. Have something you think we should share? Drop us a line on facebook, tweet us @kingestate, or just send a message using the contact form. In this edition we have six links from four sources, including an article from The New York Times about Oregon Chardonnay.
Mutineer Magazine's Mutinous Retreat at King Estate Winery
The people behind Mutineer Magazine are a lot of fun to hang out drink with, and we also like the product they put together. Their magazine has interesting stories and beautiful editorial photography by their extremely talented Director of Photography, Portland’s own, Ian Vincent Andreae. A few weeks ago, King Estate hosted Mutineer Magazine’s first winter retreat, where the Mutineers bonded and brainstormed article topics and art for the upcoming year.
Here’s a video detailing their retreat at the winery:
King Estate Rib Feast 2012
This year’s King Estate Rib Feast took place over two weekends with a total of six seatings. Guests enjoyed locally sourced ribs, chicken, and veggies amid bouquets of organic estate grown daffodils and King Estate NxNW wines.
Rescued & Rehabilitated, A Red-tailed Hawk Returns to King Estate
Last September, King Estate vineyard workers noticed an injured Red-tailed Hawk on the estate. Volunteers from the Cascades Raptor Center quickly rescued the bird, which had an infected foot caused by a prey bite. Four months and one amputated toe later, the hawk proved that it was well enough to return home to King Estate where it and other birds of prey play a vital role providing natural pest control. Owls, hawks, and other raptors thrive on our 1,033 certified organic acres because there is no chance of poisoning through the food chain, and there is plenty of room to roam. King Estate Winery and Eugene’s Cascades Raptor Center are proud to hold a unique partnership that allows orphaned and rehabilitated birds of prey a second shot at life in the wild world.
Registration Now Open for the 2012 King Estate Wine Country Run!
Join us on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22nd, one week before the Eugene Marathon, for a scenic 5K run through the rolling hills of our certified organic vineyards. Fingers crossed for beautiful weather like last year, but as is the way in Oregon, this event is going on RAIN OR SHINE.
King Estate Executive Chef Michael Landsberg Goes to Tokyo
This April, at the invitation of the Four Seasons Hotel at Marunouchi, in Tokyo, Japan King Estate Executive Chef Michael Landsberg will spend a week in Tokyo preparing several special meals at this prestigious hotel. Chef Landsberg is honored to accept this invitation, and we can’t wait to see what inspiration he finds on the road to bring back to our own estate restaurant! The guest appearance will include the presentation of a number of lunches and dinners, several cooking classes, and will culminate with a delectable 5 course gala dinner.
The Domaine Pinot Noir Story – Animated Infographic
This month, members of the Ultimate tier of the King Estate Tower Club, will receive a limited edition magnum of our Domaine Pinot Noir. The screen printed, wax sealed bottle will arrive in a unique box featuring an infographic that tells the story of the wine and the meticulous barrel selection process that ensures only the best estate organic fruit makes it into our Domaine blend. We’ve posted an animated version of this same infographic for your viewing pleasure.