ABOUT US

Trathen Hall Wines sources fruit from organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley. We hope to transport the essence of the symbiotic and lively ecosystems of these vineyards into the bottle with attentive and playful care of the fruit. Our role as winemakers in the transformation of grapes to wine is to be vigilant overseers and dedicated caregivers and to abstain from unnecessary manipulation and control of the process. Our production remains small (less than 1000 cases) which allows us to be the sole individuals to carry out these tasks.

While Trathen Hall Wines recently rounded a decade of vintages, we are fast approaching our 20th in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and over half our lives spent in the production side of the industry around the globe. Though the movement of time is not a fixed number, these small measurements mark our fortune at being able to be thus far immersed with vines and wine.

Vinum Exhilarat Animum ~ Wine Cheers the Spirit.

THE BACKSTORY

Just over 25 years ago now, a common interest in travel led Arabella Hall and Blair Trathen to pursue an itinerant lifestyle that nurtured a mutual appreciation of wine, and fueled the dream of one day producing their own. Arabella grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where the two first met, and Blair hails from the South Island of New Zealand. Being from New England and New Zealand respectively, they naturally gravitated toward cool climate viticulture. This led them to complete post graduate diplomas in viticulture and oenology from the oldest agricultural teaching institution in the Southern Hemisphere, Lincoln University (est. 1878) in Canterbury, New Zealand. After a decade long winemaking odyssey working alongside one another in vineyards and wineries around the globe (namely in Western Australia, on the East and West coasts of the United States, South Africa’s Stellenbosch region and the South Island of New Zealand), an affection for Pinot Noir took hold early, and they spent a number of years working for Pinot Noir producers in Central Otago (Gibbston Valley, Mt Difficulty, Peregrine and Valli) and in Oregon (Archery Summit, Beaux Freres, Rex Hill, and Scott Paul), to name a few. Ultimately they settled in Oregon's Willamette Valley and established Trathen Hall Wines in 2009.

ARABELLA HALL

Arabella was an Oriental Studies major at Columbia University’s Barnard College in NYC and went on to complete her Masters in Asian Art and Archaeology from the University of London. While studying and living in Japan she apprenticed at Ichishima Shuzo in Niigata, learning the art of sake making. A seed had been planted, but the path of a career in winemaking did not unfold at that time. It was later while traveling with Blair that the desire to make wine together took hold and the subsequent work in vineyards and wineries around the globe nurtured that seed to become the little family tree of Trathen Hall Wines. Having amassed years of making wine for others, Arabella seized the opportunity that presented itself in 2009 to purchase an acre of Pinot Noir fruit and launched the Trathen Hall brand.

BLAIR TRATHEN

after completing a B.Sc. in Soil Science and Climatology from the University of Otago, Blair headed to the Rocky Mountains to ski and then backpacked through Central and South America and Europe before landing on Martha’s Vineyard island, where he met Arabella. They traveled to Europe, Egypt, India, Thailand, and then back to New Zealand, where they enrolled in wine school. They returned to the Willamette Valley in 2008, where blair was employed as the assistant winemaker at A to Z ~ Rex Hill. In 2012 he was hired to be the head winemaker at Shea Wine Cellars, where he spent 7 years crafting estate grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. He recently left Shea to join Arabella in the growing business of Trathen Hall Wines.

AVA TRATHEN

Ava came into our lives at the same time we began Trathen Hall Wines, in fact we are not sure who or which is older. She has clocked more hours per her age helping and witnessing grapegrowing and winemaking than either of her parents to date. And like most children who are raised amongst vines and wine she has no plans for a career in the industry (yet?), but rather aspires to be a ballet dancer and currently studies at Oregon Ballet Theater.

OUR LABEL

The woodcut design on the front comes from a small book on wine purchased at a garage sale years ago during our travels. In the process of producing the label we learned of some of the history around the chosen 'Harvesting' woodcut.

The woodcut is one in a series found in the Liber Ruralium Commodorum of Petrus De Crescentiis ca. 1305, and first published in Latin in 1471. The artist of the illuminations is identified as Andrea da Firenze who was active in Rome during Pius II. One of these early manuscripts, which was rebound for Pope Pius VI (Giovan Angelo Braschi, Pope 1775-1799), was in the collection of Robert Hoe (Arabella's great great grandfather) and sold at Sotheby's in 1912.

The pattern on the back is a reworking of a Maori carving pattern that represents movement. It is used in all areas of New Zealand and stands for continuity towards our evolving future.