The Barn, Pre-Soter.

The Barn, After Restoration.

Soter Vineyards wines are made in a refurbished Yamhill County Barn, originally dating from 1943. The barn is located off of Mineral Springs road just east of Carlton, high on a promontory lined with Douglas firs and centuries-old oak trees. Beginning in 2003, we undertook to completely clean out, refurbish, and rebuild the barn to make it suitable for making and raising the wines. We completely cleaned out many years' worth of rather unsavory debris, laid a new floor, rebuilt new walls using winery-friendly materials, and installed a water-filtration system for our use.

Our winery features state-of-the-art equipment that is uncommon for a winery of our size. We have our own mechanized bottling line, and we do all tirage, disgorgement, and bottling of our sparkling wines in-house, retaining meticulous control over their upbringing. Our modest barn even features a small lab for wine analysis.

In the hillside next to the barn, we dug two caves and lined them in cement for our barrel rooms. Naturally cool and temperature-controlled year-round, these two spaces are the perfect environment to raise world-class wines. Here we utilize the finest French oak casks from Burgundian coopers, plus stainless-steel barrels for rosé and sparkling wine production. These caves are also used for aging our Brut Rosé and Blanc des Blancs on their yeasts (sur lattes) before they are disgorged and released to you.

Breaking ground in summer 2005, and likely complete by crush of 2006, we will have a permanent winery facility adjacent to the caves. This facility, designed with the help of Tony Soter's father, will also feature a tasting room and an office to house our operations. Currently, we are not open to the public and make tasting appointments for our mailing list members only. However, we look forward to the day when we can host everyone with open arms and share the remarkable beauty of the Yamhill-Carlton countryside and its wines.