Oregon Wine Research Institute

A History of Woodhall III Vineyards

Precision Soil Map and Soil Interactions - Oregon State University, Woodhall Vineyard (pdf)

Viticulture Research at OSU

A place where research, extension, and education come together 

Woodhall Vineyard is a facility that serves to educate and inform OSU students and the Oregon wine industry through classes, training and research. Woodhall Vineyard is located 30 minutes south of the Corvallis campus, just west of the town of Alpine. The site has a southern slope and is a relatively warm mesoclimate within the hillside.

Current and past research projects conducted at Woodhall Vineyard include: Pinot noir and Chardonnay clonal evaluations, rootstock evaluations of four cultivars of Vitis vinifera, rootstock-environment evaluations, canopy management trials, vineyard floor biodiversity, herbicide efficacy trials, phenolic development during ripening, soil and root distribution, and nematode population evaluations.

Extension workshops and demonstrations held at Woodhall Vineyard provide the opportunity for OSU and industry professionals to participate in and contribute to the continued education of a growing industry. Past workshops and demonstrations have addressed the following production issues: irrigation, pest management, site evaluation, pruning and canopy management.

Woodhall vineyard is also a working lab for undergraduate and graduate students. Classes visit Woodhall to see and experience the winegrape production system from vineyard design and site assessment through management practices. The existing vineyard serves as a demonstrative teaching facility. Future plantings are intended to serve as research opportunities for faculty and students.

Fruit Sales

Fruit that is not used for research is sold to hobby winemakers or other interested parties for winemaking each year.

Student volunteers pruning a young vineyard block at Woodhall Vineyard, winter 2009
The resulting growth in summer 2009 of the same block.
Excellent canopy management practices are employed on site.
Both young and older vines are established at Woodhall Vineyard. The 30-year-old plantings of Pommard Pinot Noir clusters are shown here.