Saginaw Vineyard

Question: What do 30 ewes, 40 lambs, and one ram named Dude have in common? Answer: They all reside at Saginaw Vineyard, located near Cottage Grove. To varying degrees, they help with making wine, especially the lambs, who are just the right height for eating leaves and vines in the vineyard. That’s Saginaw Vineyard’s version of “canopy management.”

Owners Scott and Cheryl Byler both grew up in the same town in Upstate New York, but their families didn’t know each other. However, in one of life’s ironies, both families moved across country to Phoenix, Arizona. Time marched on, and eventually Scott and Cheryl met in high school and fell in love. For both, however, the heat and enormity of Phoenix became the incentives to head north to Oregon and eventually to purchase a rustic 100-year-old farmstead.

Since 1992, the Bylers have been growing 9 acres of premium wine grapes and 1 acre of blueberries. Tired of producing grapes for others, they launched their own winery in 2001 and christened their grape-wine labels “Saginaw Vineyard” and fruit-wine labels “Delight Valley Farms.” In the 1905-built red barn, visitors can sample Saginaw Vineyard pinot noir, pinot gris, Maréchal Foch, chardonnay, and Müller-Thurgau. Also available for sampling are Delight Valley Farms blueberry and blackberry wines. We gladly purchased a bottle of the Delight Valley Farms blueberry wine after Cheryl suggested that we “imagine eating pound cake, cheesecake, or vanilla ice cream with this wine.” Each 375-ml. bottle has a pound and a half of blueberries.

The Bylers are down-to-earth, hard-working people who have the perfect attitude for the demands of Saginaw Vineyard. I know it’s cliché but what you see is what you get. From sunup to sundown, they are busy managing the farm with their loyal dogs, Petey and Buck, always at their side. During the summer, the Bylers host Friday Night Live evenings at the vineyard, which feature live music, plenty of good wine and beer, and an economical admission cost, as in free.

While in the tasting room, take time to explore the antiques and pictures on the wall. One of the pictures, dating from the early 1900s, is a photo of a large family outing at the farmstead. The rural splendor of a bygone era speaks for itself. Somehow, I think those folks would be very proud of what the Bylers have done.