Winemaking in the world is mostly risk-averse. This is understandable as most wine is produced as beverage alcohol, not as a product of nature. To produce a standard beverage alcohol product, your recipe must be reproducible. The goal is to make a product that is identical year after year. This approach is more in line with an assembly line than farming.

Each growing season has its unique characteristics, so by definition, naturally grown produce will have its distinctive traits each harvest. This is where the two concepts of winemaking diverge. One chooses an assembly line mentality, while the other chooses nature.

To choose nature is not only giving up control of the process. It is admitting that nature is in control. When you try to control nature, more and more inputs are required. It takes a lot of intervention to enforce standardization. It requires the courage of your convictions to take Mother Nature’s ride. The results of these choices are predictable. One gives you solid commercial-grade beverage alcohol — the other gives you wine.

At Troon Vineyard, everything we do is focused on supporting natural systems and getting out of their way. Our soils and plants are well suited to do their jobs. So are the native yeasts that populate our farm. These indigenous yeast populations are unique to our environment and are an essential component of what makes Troon, Troon.

There is much we do not know. When we’ve had genetic sequencing done on our ferments, many of the yeasts identified do not even have a name. That is very exciting. They are part of who we are as a winery and farm.

In this episode of Troon Talk on Wine Camp, winemaker Nate Wall eloquently explains how native yeast fermentations are an essential part of the signature that gives our wines a sense of place. That place is Troon Vineyard on the Kubli Bench in Southern Oregon's Applegate Valley.