King Estates owner: Late harvests make the best vintages

By MITCH LIES

Capital Press

EUGENE, Ore. -- With late October fast approaching and grapes still not ready for harvest, the attitude among Oregon winery owners is somewhere between uncomfortable and worried sick.

But Ed King, owner and CEO of King Estates, is keyed up.

Late harvests, while hard on the nerves, often provide Oregon's best vintages, he said.

"Last year was a perfect example," King said. "It was a real nail-biter, but we got some great quality wines out of it. Grapes produce the best wine when they are right on the edge."

King, who is celebrating his 20th year in the wine industry this year, said he's become accustomed to the anxieties that annually permeate Oregon's wine harvest.

"Oregon is obviously a challenging place to make wine, but that is also part of the attraction," King said. "Wine making in Oregon is not for the faint of heart."

King Estates was founded in 1991, when King and his father, Ed King Jr., planted 20 acres to winegrapes on the estate's rolling hills.

Today, with 465 acres in winegrapes, King Estates is Oregon's largest winery.

It is also the highest ranked among Oregon wineries in the 2011 Wine and Spirits Magazine's restaurant poll, ranking 12th.

And, King said, "I think it is Oregon's best distributed wine."

Eighty-five percent of King Estate wines are sold out of state, many out of the country, he said.

More than half of the estate's wine is made from grapes purchased from off the estate's vineyards.

King attributes much of the success of his wines to a high-quality staff and the many quality controls he built into the system.

Quality control at the estate begins in the vineyard and carries through the wine-making process. In the estate's laboratory, technicians monitor grapes for acids, sugar content and other features before, during and after the wine-making process.

"A lot of people think wine making is a simple process," he said. "Good wine making isn't."

His staff includes three winemakers with enology degrees and several viticulturists.

"All our people are arguably exceptional," he said.

King likes to keep his hand in the wine-making process, but believes it is important for an owner and CEO to know when to back off and let staff make tough decisions.

"I know when to stay out and when to stay in," he said.

King, who came to Oregon in 1979 after practicing law in Alaska, settled here because of Oregon's natural beauty.

He embraced that appreciation in his grape growing by adopting an organic production regime, certified by Oregon Tilth, which he believes is better for the long-term health of the vineyard.

"Human agriculture until 1945 didn't have any chemicals," he said. "We wouldn't be here if organic didn't work."

King Estates produces much of the fertilizer it uses from compost produced from the byproducts of wine making.

King also is building one of the largest solar farms in Oregon on his estate. With 4,100 panels on 4 acres, the system is expected to produce 1 megawatt of power.

Power from the system will be put on the Lane Electric Cooperative grid.

"It's a drop in the bucket, as far as the area's energy needs," King said of his solar project. "But, as an example, it says: Yes, we can do this."

King said he did better than simply survive the Great Recession, which had a devastating impact on some Northwest wineries. The estates grew its production every year, King said.

One key was the estate's excellent reputation among buyers and consumers, King said. Consumers typically are less likely to experiment with unknown wine labels during a recession, he said.

Another key was a decision to go forward with a plan already on the drawing board to produce alternate labels at lower price points.

Acrobat, a new label that includes a Pinot Noir that sells for around $20 and a Pinot Gris that sells for around $12 a bottle, is selling exceptionally well, King said. Also new to King Estates is NxNW, which includes a Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling, which also are selling well, he said.

"We work with the people who buy our wine," he said. "This is not like some artist making decisions about what people ought to drink. We see ourselves as working for the people."