Central Oregon Winery Goes Maverick

Far from established grapegrowing regions, Maragas vows to grow vinifera in the high desert
 

Culver, Ore. -- In the isolated high desert of Central Oregon, Doug Maragas is determined not just to grow classic vinifera winegrapes, but also to enlist his neighbors and establish an American Viticultural Area. The AVA, he told Wines & Vines, is gaining support from small vineyards and would-be wineries under the working name of WACO: Winegrowers Association of Central Oregon.

Maragas established Maragas Winery in 1999 along scenic Highway 97 between Madras and Redmond. Sourcing grapes from Oregon and Northern California, he produced his first vintage in 2001, and sold it at his original tasting room in Bend, which he continues to operate. In 2006, he began planting grapes on the 40-acre parcel in Culver, where he built a new winery/tasting room. In 2009, he sold some 1,350 cases, almost exclusively direct-to-consumer.

By 2007, he’d planted a single acre to 16 different vinifera varieties/clones. When we spoke with him that fall, he had been consulting with viticulturists from Oregon State University and his local extension agent for recommendations about which winegrapes would produce the best wines from his site. Their advice came as a surprise: The experts recommended that he plant hybrid grapes like Marechal Foch, Frontenac and St. Croix.

These cold-climate grapes thrive in the Northeast and the Midwest, but, Maragas felt, would not find much of a market in the vinifera-centric Northwest. A neighbor is growing these hybrids, along with the classic Muscat. Maragas buys the Muscat for his red blends, but instead of following suit, decided to continue toward his goal of growing vinifera grapes for his estate wine.

To date, he has planted 2.5 acres to many different varieties and clones: at least 50 vines of each, including Chenin Blanc, Zinfandel, Merlot, Viognier, Shiraz, Riesling, Gewürtzraminer, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon and four varieties of Muscat, “with Muscat Ottonel in the lead.”

He admits that these varieties have not been tested in his area: “The issue is ripening and winter kill,” he says, but adds that last winter his acreage only experienced two days of sub-zero weather. December 2009, though it may have caused significant damage to some of his young vines: “We had four days of highs in the teens, and two nights at minus-6 or 8ºF,” Maragas recalls. “This was the coldest we’ve seen in five years, but awesome for our test. That’s what we want to know. You have to sacrifice a little just to find out.”

All of the vines, which he started in grow-tubes, have done well so far. “It’s just a question of if they’ll survive,” he said. “We’ll know this spring what’s going to make it.”

His biggest vineyard problems are not leafroll or fungus or Pierce’s disease or phylloxera or nematodes. Birds are the crop annihilators, Maragas has found. His neighbor grapegrower has bird netting, and most of his crop survived: Maragas harvested 1.25 tons of his Muscat, but says, “Most of ours was eaten by birds,” which devoured his new Zinfandel in a single day, right after veraison. Maragas is on track to organic certification, and installed a 14kW solar array at the winery.

With a gorgeous location in a rural area surrounded by year-round recreational attractions, Maragas plans to capitalize on his direct-to-consumer business model. Unlike many if not most Oregon wineries, mired in bureaucratic roadblocks barring agriculture businesses from hosting weddings and concerts, Maragas, a constitutional lawyer by training, fought a two-year legal battle and now holds an event permit. “This year we’re going to blow it out,” he says. “We’ve partnered with a fabulous chef, we’re adding landscaping, we’ll have barrel tastings.” A Santa Claus & Jazz event drew families in December.

Getting the permit, he says, “was worth the time, expense and stress.” The permit, he says, “is forever glued to the land,” and his entrepreneurship will be an asset, helping to put the area on the map as a winegrowing center. “It pays for itself. It’s additional income for start-up wineries.” His budding WACO group will meet later this month: Some have just 20 vines in their backyards, Maragas acknowledges, but “some are interested in going commercial.