Open: February
Mission
BEGINNING, BELONGING, BECOMING
ROOTS is origin, ancestry and birthplace. Racine, the French word for root, is owner Chris Berg's own birthplace. ROOTS also symbolizes family ties and community support as well as growth and the future's awesome potential.
About Us
Born in Racine, Wisc., and raised in Idaho, Pennsylvania and Illinois, winemaker and winegrower Chris Berg didn't always know he wanted to make wine.
In fact, when he graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence with a bachelor's in English, he wasn't sure what his future held, as far as a career.
Meanwhile his parents, Chuck and Dian Berg, had decided to relocate to Oregon from Illinois with the purchase of a manufacturing company in Tualatin. Chris soon followed and helped his parents at the plant, as well as the other reason for the big move: planting a small vineyard.
In 1999, the Bergs planted seven acres of mostly PInot Noir on the 20-acre property near Yamhill in the Yamhill-Carlton District of the Willamette Valley. Chuck and Dian built a small house on the vineyard, and Chris lived in Portland with his wife, Hilary, also a Jayhawk.
The seven-acre vineyard contains mostly Pinot Noir with a couple rows of Pinot Gris. The Pinot Noir clones include 114, 115, 777 and are planted in Willakenzie soil and with a southwest slope.
The family's business closed their doors in 2000 and the Bergs found themselves full-time winery folk. In 2001, Chuck and Dian moved to the sunny locale of Wickenburg, Arizona to be near Dian's parents. Chris and Hilary were then given the opportunity to move to the vineyard from Portland.
In 2002, the Bergs picked their first harvest of a whopping three tons, which were made into 72 cases of Pinot Noir.
Today, Roots produces approximately 3,800 cases annually. Wines include our flagship estate Pinot Noir, as well as eight single vineyard-designate Pinot Noirs, sourced mostly from neighboring vineyards in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Other wines include an estate Pinot Gris, Melon de Bourgogne, Viognier, Riesling, Dessert Riesling, Syrah and a methode champenoise sparkling, Theo, named after our son. All these wines are made in very small lots and handcrafted using indigenous yeasts.
In homage to one of Chris' favorite artists, Roots' second label, Klee (named after Paul Klee), makes up the largest portion of our case production with 2,000 cases made annually. The artwork is our own adaptation of a Klee painting .
