Win a One Year Supply of Wild Salmon & 12 Months of the KE Tower Club!
With 1,033 acres, King Estate is home to the world’s largest contiguous organic vineyard. Our organic certification was granted by Oregon Tilth, one of the strictest certifying agencies in the country. We have also been inspected and certified by Salmon-Safe, which recognizes that our farming inputs and practices have no negative impact on salmon and other aquatic life. This is of great importance here at King Estate because the natural springs that begin on our property flow to the Siuslaw river, and some are key tributaries.
To increase awareness of this fish-friendly certification we have partnered with the non-profit Salmon-Safe organization to bring you this exciting contest. All you have to do is pledge to sip Salmon-Safe wine and choose wild instead of farmed fish. You’ll be entered to win a year long membership in the King Estate Tower Club and a year’s supply of wild Bristol Bay salmon delivered right to your door.
Thanks to Your Support, The King Estate Restaurant Is Here to Stay!
This year King Estate faced a surprising challenge to our restaurant’s operation. Many of you know first-hand that our restaurant program is built on a firm dedication to support local sustainable agriculture, and it is just one of a great many rising businesses in Oregon’s food and wine industry that promote values like organic farming, fair wages, and fostering a vibrant local economy. In many ways the misguided appeal of our restaurant permit was aimed at senselessly undercutting the rising food and wine industry in Oregon.
With your very, very important support, which came in many forms: petition signatures, letters to legislators, blog comments and more, we undertook a major initiative at the Oregon legislature to protect ourselves and like businesses across this great state. As a result, we were not only able to protect our restaurant but we changed the law for the benefit of all wineries, and even paved the way for a few others in the state to establish their own full service restaurants. It was a profound success that began with a collective effort to speak up for common sense, for the future, and for responsible job creation.
New Barn Owls Arrive at King Estate Winery
Our friend Laurin Huse, the Rehabilitation Director at Cascades Raptor Center, arrived at King Estate Winery on a breezy but sunny day with four boxes. Each box contained a rehabilitated 4-month-old barn owl that came to the Cascades Raptor Center as an orphan. Some baby birds were only days old when they arrived at the center. Once they arrived at CRC the birds were paired with an adult owl foster mom who taught them everything they needed to know to survive in the wild. When they proved they can survive in the wild by demonstrating their ability to catch live prey in a specialized hunting enclosure, these young owls got the opportunity to return to the wild.
Summertime in Oregon Wine Country
The summer season is in full swing at King Estate. Willamette Valley summers are exceptional, and there is never a better time to visit the estate and enjoy lunch with a bottle of wine on our terraces. The spring flowers on our organic fruit trees have transformed into small apples, figs, and cherries soon to be enjoyed by visitors ordering our cheese and fruit plate.
Weddings occur most often during the summer due to the Willamette Valley’s mild weather and King Estate’s beautiful, green vines. With full time event planners on site and catering from our restaurant and bakery, a wedding at the estate is a perfect celebration.
Calling All Designers! KE’s 20th Anniversary Harvest T-Shirt Design Contest
Each year King Estate produces a new harvest t-shirt to commemorate the vintage and in 2011 we will complete our 20th harvest; a very special milestone in the history of our company. This contest is for the design of our 20th Anniversary 2011 Harvest Tee. The winning design will take home a $400 cash prize! The deadline is Wednesday, July 20th at 10:00 am PST. The t-shirt needs to include a King Estate logo as well as some reference to the 20th vintage. We are artful people; we like subtlety and mystery. Your interpretation does not need to be entirely literal or entirely abstract – we want you to have the artistic freedom to come up with something fantastic.
King Estate Makes the List of Oregon’s 100 Best Green Companies
Each year Oregon Business compiles a list of, the 100 Best Green Companies to Work for in Oregon. This year we are proud to make the list! The list recognizes Oregon companies that approach their daily work with green values. As a leader in Organic viticulture we are very proud to be recognized for our practices, and at the same time understand that there is much more we can do. We are committed to continually analyzing, evaluating, and improving our business practices to become even more environmentally friendly.
Wine & Spirits Magazine’s Top 100 Value Wines & Value Brands of the Year
Those of you who enjoy our Acrobat Pinot Gris & Pinot Noir won’t be surprised to hear that the June issue of Wine & Spirits Magazine has some hefty value-oriented praise for the wines. Acrobat was recognized as one of 50 Value Brands of the Year and one of only 17 American brands. With over 8,000 U.S. wine brands for their editors to choose from, that’s a big honor.
WHAT: Ready-to-drink Oregon Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from King Estate’s entry-level brand.
STANDOUTS: An exuberant 2009 Oregon Pinot Noir ($18) with juicy red fruit and the stuffing to match, and a bright, succulent ‘09 Pinot Gris ($12) with a lean, refreshing grip.
WHERE: Based in Eugene, with fruit sourced from all of Oregon’s viticultural regions.
WHEN: Open the Pinot Noir with a smoked trout salad; pour the Gris anytime.
VIDEO: 2011 King Estate Wine Country Run
Our inaugural Wine Country 5K was a great success. Two weeks before the event we had to shut down registration due to overwhelming response and to save space for on-site registrants. This being our first year putting on the race, we wanted to make sure we could accommodate the parking needs and keep the runners safe. We ended up with 479 runners and many more spectators. We look forward to building on this success next year and hope you’ll join us! Big thanks to our friends at the Eugene Marathon for helping us put this together.
Springtime Brings Flowers and Sheep to King Estate Winery
With springtime comes new growth throughout the King Estate property. Our apple and plum trees have begun to flower, and the mustard and grass in the vineyard have been growing quickly. That’s where the sheep come in. King Estate uses sheep as natural lawn mowers. They enjoy munching on fresh shoots of grass and weeds, and we enjoy the fact that we don’t have to run tractors through the vines to trim the unwanted growth. In the process, the sheep also naturally fertilize the vines and help us reduce our carbon footprint.
VIDEO: Support the Restaurant at King Estate & Local Farmers
Sign our petition and join our efforts to protect the restaurant at King Estate and the local farmers that we support, or click here to learn more about the issue.
