Sitting at the base of Mt. Hood, the vineyard at Nate Ready’s Hiyu Wine Farm is first and foremost a thriving and functioning farm with its own heartbeat. Several heartbeats, to be exact. Pigs and chickens comb the rows, tilling the earth beneath them as they fertilize. The land is kept free of pesticides by spraying the vines with no more than a fermented tea solution to discourage harmful bacteria by creating what Nate calls “bacterial competition.” This is why both wild and domesticated animals thrive here. The tasting room and kitchen is a minimal respite to the unruliness of outdoors, with clean lines and token thoughtful details. A large picture window looking out onto the vines is a centerpiece of the space and serves as visual bridge to the shifting scenery of the seasons. Thickets of vines growing everything from Grenache to Sagrantino go into Hiyu’s field blend wines. Many of the wines are experimental and all are elegant, intricate and unexpected. No two vintages or blends are ever the same, and this variation and scarcity make these wines even more astonishing and enjoyable as the years pass.