Original oil on canvas painting, entitled “Splendor in the Vines,”
by Judith Beck Winzell; 32″ X 40″; 2012

The Crawford Beck Vineyard (CBV) is a venture of David and Jeanne Beck, located in the Eola-Amity Hills American Viticultural Area (AVA) of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  The Eola Amity Hills AVA is quite different from the other Willamette Valley AVAs, and the CBV is distinct in its own micro-terroir.  Its soils are of volcanic origin, having been laid down by lava flows that occurred some 15 million years ago.  These clay-loam soils overlay some ancient marine sediments that in many places are not far below the volcanic soils.  Furthermore, the CBV lies on the gentle slopes of a swale that faces south-southwest, looking across the Willamette Valley toward the gap in the Coast Range through which cooling breezes flow into the Valley.  These breezes blow steadily all summer, bathing the CBV slopes at night with relief from the day’s heat so essential for our grape varieties.  The altitude of the CBV slopes ranges from 387 feet to 521 feet above sea level.