At first glance, it’s the colors that catch your eye. From bright whites to light carbonic reds to skin-contact oranges to deeply dark and dusty reds, the hues of the wines at Hiyu Wine Farm suggest that this is not a standard winery. “Hiyu is more like a microbrewery,” says winemaker Nate Ready.

A comparably sized winery might grow a handful of varieties of grapes, planting each in its own plot, and produce up to 10 different wines, 1,000 cases at a time, released three or four times per year. Then there’s Hiyu. 

Ready grows 112 different grape varieties, and makes 18 different wines, a barrel or two at a time, releasing new wines every month. When Hiyu owners purchased this 30-acre property five miles south of Hood River in 2010, they grafted over most of the original vines, planting dozens of grapes not typically found in Oregon. Using an old European technique, Ready planted multiple varieties in the same blocks.

This creates a sandbox of complex field blend combinations for Ready’s experimentation. The grapes are grown, picked, and fermented together to create wines so beguiling and unique that superlatives don’t do them justice. For example, one small section includes just about every Alsatian grape variety: Riesling, furmint, Grüner Veltliner, hárslevelü, rotgipfler, pinot gris, pinot blanc, muscat, gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, and Müller-Thurgau. 

Right next to that is the Burgundian section, with pinot noir, pinot gris, pinot blanc, pinot meunier, chardonnay, Aligoté, and melon de Bourgogne. Nearby sits a Savoie section with Syrah and some of its relatives, including Teroldego, Lagrein, marzemino, mondeuse blanche, mondeuse noire, peloursin, viognier, and, though not technically related, roussanne, which also has origins in the French Alps. The list goes on with Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, Eastern European, and Greek sections dotting the vineyard. Depending upon the season, visitors can taste wines that are the culmination of each of these sections, making each return visit to Hiyu memorable.

Ready sees his vineyard as part of a wider commitment to permaculture and regenerative agriculture: the farm includes pastures for cows, pigs, chickens, and goats, which help control the vegetation in the absence of tilling. Walking through the vineyard, you’ll find aromatic wild fennel sprouting between the rows of grapes. “What grows in between, we’re OK with,” says Ready. Even the weeds are allowed to go to flower, because Hiyu believes that invasive weeds are beneficial. For example, knapweed produces an abundance of nectar, which is good for pollinators. 

Hiyu’s approach visibly affects the grapes, starting with their look. Ready describes Hiyu’s grapes as more “ugly” than those from high-production vineyards, where perfect-looking fruit results in diminished flavor and intensity. “We have crazy flavors here, much more intense than at other vineyards,” he says. “It makes it so easy to make wine.” 

What to Sip and Nosh at Hiyu

Hiyu offers tastings of seasonal wines ($50), plus requests by the glass or bottle. We liked Avellanna, a blend of kadarka, blaufränkisch, zinfandel, corvina, gamay, pignolo, and schioppettino. It has a strong mineral backbone with loads of cherries and raspberries, complemented by savory flavors of moist earth, black pepper, and a hint of sage. Also request Sean Nos, in which grapes of every color are combined to make a wine that defies notions of what color wine should be. It’s not quite orange wine, not quite rosé. Pink negramoll, Malvasia fina, mission, palomino, and baboso negro come together to create a zingy wine that’s playfully layered with fruity, floral, and herbal notes. 

For meals, Hiyu’s sizable farm-to-table operation provides three food and wine pairings: lunches ($100), family-style Thursday suppers ($125) and dinner feasts ($250), with dishes by in-house chef Jason Barwikowski, well known around
Portland for his stints at the Woodsman Tavern and Tastebud.  

Hiyu Wine Farm, 3890 Acree Dr, Hood River