Aaron & Tracy Kendall.

In life, they say nothing is certain, but in the world of wine, few things come as close to a sure bet as two accomplished winemakers teaming up for their own project. The duo we’re discussing happen to be husband and wife Aaron and Tracy Kendall. Aaron was the assistant winemaker at Beaux Freres, now head winemaker at Compris Vineyard, and Tracy was the associate winemaker at Nicolas-Jay.

After recently purchasing an established vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, together they bring a wealth of wine expertise to their own project, Folly of Man.

Barrel tasting the inaugural release set for March 2025.

The two first met when they were working at Adelsheim, one of the founding wineries of the Willamette Valley, While it may seem they were destined to work together, from the start they had always maintained they would never make their own wine.

But fate can often change one’s life path, and when the chance to own an established and well-maintained vineyard arose, it was an opportunity simply too good to pass up. The vineyard is 48 total acres with 16 acres under vine with the oldest planted in 1996, and the youngest in 2017.

The previous owners are retired geneticists that kept excellent note of everything planted.

The 40-acre estate vineyard.

“It’s great to have older vines,” Tracy tells us. “But at the same time, vines go through a life cycle and 40, 50, 60 years is when you start to see more issues and decreasing yields. So while they’ve come into their own, they’re more challenging to prune, more challenging to farm, they’re challenging to get enough fruit set, so to have some younger vine just coming to 10 years old [and] just coming into their own, they’re easier to prune, great fruit set, great canopies. It’s nice to have the whole range.”

“Folly of Man was born out of a belief that the best pinot noir and chardonnay have yet to be produced.”

With a plan to produce just 500 cases, the vineyard is the perfect size to grow and produce wine on their own terms. Those terms include converting the LIVE certified property to fully biodynamic. Both are passionate not only about biodynamic farming, but also employing regenerative agricultural methods that focus on soil health, increasing biodiversity and encouraging a polyculture approach.

“We really want to be organic, use biodynamic principles, sustainable agriculture, and to be able to do that you have to have a biodiversity for all the animals and the bird life.” says Tracy. The previous owners had already begun the process of introducing natural predators which is evident by several raptor houses and bluebird houses throughout the property.

The vineyard also benefits from being in the Van Duzer corridor whose winds mean that the amount of disease pressure is very low.

Folly of Man Vineyard.

“There was a block down at the bottom that the picking crew kind of missed a couple of rows and we were back out here maybe at the end of October, a month or so at least after harvest, and the fruit was still pristine.”

The soil, as Aaron explains, is volcanic on top overlaying marine sediment underneath, “It was all ancient seabed and then the Columbia basalt flows came in over top of that. And then there’s a little bit of Missoula flood that came in and deposited at the bottom of the vineyard.”

The strategy is to focus on Oregon’s specialties and most renowned varietals: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Destined for success.

The vineyard is currently planted to the low-yielding Swann clone, a fair amount of Pommard, and clone 115 for the Pinot Noir, along with Chardonnay clones 76 and 96. They also have a small amount of Pinot Gris which is contracted out to Owen Roe.

As Tracy and Aaron pause to reflect on the journey they’ve embarked on, they’re fully aware that it will be challenging, and they are embracing it wholeheartedly.

“It takes such a long time to know a vineyard. Being more what we consider wine growers where it’s about the vineyard and the fruit, it just takes time to get to know each little section and area, and how that fruit performs and how the different clones perform. So, it’s going to be a decades long learning process but it’s exciting just being out here day in and day out and just walking the vines and watching them grow.”

A focus on Chardonnay & Pinot Noir.

With the debut release of Folly of Man wines scheduled for Spring 2025, we’re excited to follow their progress. Contrary to its name, this project is anything but foolish. It was founded on the belief that “the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Willamette Valley are yet to be made.”

From the outset, their aim with Folly of Man has been to craft dual-clone blends for added complexity. “In the first year, we couldn’t achieve this everywhere due to fruit sourcing, but we managed it with the Chardonnay.” Tracy tells us. “When you ferment dual clones together, they bring different characteristics—varying acid levels, tannins—and they interact in ways that a blend created post-fermentation can’t replicate.”

Highly anticipated wines and for good reason!

The true test lies in the final product, and we had the privilege of barrel-tasting their soon-to-be-released inaugural wines, which are already showing remarkable promise.

There’s no doubt that they’re on track to realizing their vision.

It would be wise to join their mailing list. With two esteemed winemakers combining their talents, success isn’t a matter of if, but rather, how quickly!

Folly of Man Winery & Estate Vineyard

9100 SE Amity Road

Amity, OR 97101

Contact — Folly of Man