Excerpted from Triangle Wine Company Winemakers Series. June 27, 2022.
Boyd and Cassandra Teegarden founded Natalie’s Estate Winery in 1999, named after their daughter Natalie. This couple came from a background in the wine industry including a stint at E&J Gallo Winery. Boyd’s winemaking style is old school European small batch, without filtering and only neutral oak to allow the flavor and terroir of the grapes to shine through.
In addition to their estate grown Pinot Noir here in the Chehalem Mountains AVA they bring in fruit from Columbia Gorge, Columbia and Yakima Valley regions of Oregon and Washington. Access to these regions allows Boyd to increase his diversity of red wines to include Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Barbero and Meritage blends.
If you have visited Natalie’s Estate you may have noticed the rusty, aged barrel press next to the driveway. More than just a relic, this old world style of pressing grapes is still being used in the Teegarden’s production room under their tasting room, which is located in an old growth oak forest. They create a large variety of primarily red wines in small batches via this hand-pressed technique used by many home winemakers across the world. In addition to dry farming (no irrigation after the first year) they adhere to strict guidelines around sustainability at their Estate vineyard as well as the vineyards where they source their grapes outside of the Willamette Valley: