Anahata Vineyard spans 24 acres across nine blocks at 500 feet in the southern reach of the Eola Hills. At this elevation the site sits above the valley fog that settles in the lower draws each morning, allowing the vines to wake early and accumulate heat through the long afternoons before the Van Duzer Corridor reasserts itself — cooling temperatures, firming acids, and extending the ripening window into the kind of slow, deliberate finish that defines the best vintages in this AVA.
The blocks are oriented to make full use of the site’s natural aspect, maximizing sun exposure through the growing season while standing fully in the path of the prevailing westerly winds off the Pacific. This combination of elevation, aspect, and wind creates conditions of genuine tension — warm enough to ripen completely, cool enough to retain the acidity and structure that give Anahata’s wines their character and their longevity.
AVA
Eola-Amity Hills
Willamette Valley
Total Acreage
30 acres
Planted Acreage
24 acres (planted 2015)
Aspect
South- and west-facing, looking toward the Van Duzer Corridor
Elevation
500 feet
Varieties Planted
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Farming
LIVE Certified
First Vintage Released
2019
Anahata is planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay across nine blocks, with seven blocks devoted to Pinot Noir and two to Chardonnay. The clone selection reflects the deliberate hand of founder Andy Lytle — each variety chosen not for broad appeal but for what it contributes to a specific block, a specific soil, and a specific vision for what Anahata should produce.
The Pinot Noir blocks draw from a considered range of clones: Dijon 667, planted in both the SMP and Anuli blocks, provides the structural backbone and dark fruit depth that anchors the program. Dijon 777, across the Gioia and Shira blocks, contributes aromatic complexity and mid-palate richness. Pommard, a classic Burgundian clone that has found one of its most expressive homes in Oregon, brings the earthy authority and aging potential of the Joie block. Wädenswil 1A and 2A — planted in the Alegria and Sogan blocks respectively — bring the full selection of Pinot noir together with their characteristic spice and generosity, offering a distinctly Old World complement to the Dijon choices.
The two Chardonnay blocks complete the picture. Vreugde is planted to Dijon 76, the same clone that contributes brightness and tension to the Windfall Chardonnay program. Athas carries Clone 95, adding weight and textural depth. Together they produce a Chardonnay of balance and precision — site-driven, unhurried, and entirely Anahata’s own.
Vreugde Block (3.3 acres)
DIJON 76
Athas Block (3.53 acres)
CLONE 95
SMP Block (2.5 acres) & Anuli Block (4.56 acres)
DIJON 667
Gioia Block (2.2 acres) & Shira Block (2.09 acres)
DIJON 777
Joie Block (2.75 acres)
POMMARD
Alegria Block (1.01 acres)
WÄDENSWIL 1A
Sogan Block (1.03 acres)
WÄDENSWIL 1A
Anahata’s soils tell the story of the Eola Hills in miniature. At 500 feet elevation, the vineyard sits in the zone where ancient volcanic activity left its most lasting impression — shallow, rocky Nekia and Jory soils formed from basaltic lava flows, underlain by marine sedimentary rock that speaks to a time when this hillside was the floor of a prehistoric sea. The result is a soil profile of remarkable complexity: volcanic intensity at the surface, ancient ocean memory beneath it.
These are not soils that flatter or forgive. Nekia in particular is among the shallowest and most demanding in the AVA — well-drained to the point of austerity, forcing vines to reach deep for both water and nutrition. That stress is not a liability. It is the mechanism by which Anahata produces the small, concentrated berries and the mineral-driven intensity that define its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
What the soil withholds, the wine returns. The iron-rich basalt contributes the subtle ferrous minerality that runs as a quiet current beneath Anahata’s fruit — present in every vintage, impossible to replicate, and entirely of this place.
Nekia is the defining soil of the Eola Hills — shallow, rocky, and uncompromising. Formed from weathered basaltic lava flows, it sits at the upper elevations of the AVA where the volcanic cap is most pronounced and the depth to bedrock is measured in inches rather than feet. Vines planted in Nekia cannot be lazy. With limited water retention and minimal organic matter, they are forced to root deeply and work hard for every nutrient they find. The result is a vine under productive stress — small clusters, concentrated berries, and a mineral intensity that registers in the finished wine as something between wet stone and iron. At Anahata, Nekia is the silent architect of the wine’s structure.
Jory soil shares Nekia’s volcanic basalt origin but carries slightly more depth and a higher clay content, giving it modest water retention that tempers the severity of its shallower neighbor. Rich in iron oxide — the source of its characteristic red color — Jory imparts a subtle ferrous quality to the wines grown in it, a quiet metallic thread that anchors the fruit and extends the finish. Where Nekia demands, Jory supports. Together they create a soil profile that is neither generous nor withholding but precisely balanced — enough to ripen fully, not so much as to dilute.
Beneath the volcanic surface of Anahata lies a layer of marine sedimentary rock formed from ancient ocean floor thrust upward by tectonic movement over millions of years. This fossil-rich substrate contributes a different kind of minerality to the vines above it — lighter, more saline, with a limestone-adjacent quality that distinguishes blocks where its influence is strongest. Where the volcanic soils give Anahata’s wines their density and grip, the marine sedimentary layer gives them their length and their lift. It is the oldest thing on the property, and in some vintages, you can taste it.
At Anahata, the wind is not a visitor. It is a resident.
The vineyard sits directly in the path of the Van Duzer Corridor — the natural break in the Coast Range that funnels cool, marine air inland from the Pacific each afternoon and evening. At this elevation, the corridor arrives with particular authority. There is no valley floor to slow it, no tree line to soften it. By the time it reaches Anahata’s blocks, it has traveled far enough to shed its moisture and kept all of its cold — a daily reset that arrives just as the afternoon heat is at its peak.
The effect on the vines is cumulative and precise. Diurnal temperature swings of twenty degrees or more are common through the growing season, and it is in that swing — warm days building sugar and phenolic ripeness, cool nights locking in natural acidity and aromatics — that Anahata’s character is formed. The result is fruit of genuine equilibrium: ripe enough to be generous, cool enough to remain structured.
The wind does quiet work beyond temperature. It moves through the canopy, tightening cluster structure and reducing humidity at the vine level — a natural defense against the disease pressure that a maritime climate can encourage. At Anahata, the corridor is not a challenge to be managed. It is a partner in farming, and the wines it helps produce carry its signature in every vintage.