Anam Cara is Celtic for "friend of my soul"

The words represent rare relationships that transcend time and distance. 

Nick is from Lodi, California, and Sheila is from Scotland. They met in London, where Sheila worked in Public Relations and Nick was a Marketing Manager for a US company. After Nick moved back to the US in 1981, they got married in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Together, they opened a small chain of family-serving pizza parlors first in Benicia, California, and then in the Napa Valley. It was when they moved to St. Helena that their immersion in the world of wine began.

In 2001, the family came to Oregon, purchasing a rundown walnut, plum and filbert orchard which was to become the home of Nicholas Vineyard and Anam Cara Cellars wines. Nick and Sheila continue to farm the vineyard, assisted by their dog Missy who welcome visitors and helps keep the vineyard gopher free.

While wine and the vineyard will always hold a significant place in their mission in life, the Fall of 2023 marked the poignant end of their winemaking journey. They continue to walk among the vines and diligently oversee the daily farming operations, with one eye on the ever-changing weather patterns and the other keenly focused on the ripening grapes.
 

Each of our wines is from the vineyard we live in and planted ourselves. Enjoy with good friends over a memorable meal.

Before the property was planted to vines, it was an overgrown walnut, filbert (hazelnut) and plum orchard. Several of the old fruit trees from the original farmstead remain, producing apples, cherries and pears.

Located on a southeast-facing slope of the Willamette Valley's Chehalem Mountains AVA in the hills above Newberg, the vineyard was first planted by Nick and Sheila in 2001. The elevation varies from 350ft-600ft and the vineyard rows are planted in a north-south direction, benefiting from cool, drying winds through the 99W corridor which keep mildew and frost pressure at bay.

The soils are primarily Loess (wind-blown ice age sediment) with bedrock and outcrops of volcanic Jory soils and deposits from the Missoula floods.

Of the original 27 vineyard acres, five blocks are Pinot Noirs planted to Pommard as well as Dijon Clones 114, 115, 667 and 777 on varying rootstocks, as well as an additional acre each of Riesling and Gewurztraminer.

In 2008, the family planted a further six acres according to the biodynamic calendar and the new vines saw their first harvest in 2011. The younger vineyard is now planted in 1-acre blocks to Riesling and Chardonnay, as well as 1.5 acres of Wadenswil Pinot noir, with less than an acre each of Pommard and Dijon clone 113.

In 2014, the Nicholas' downsized their ownership to five acres at the highest elevation. Pommard and Dijon clone 113 now supplement the Wadenswil.

Anam Cara wines are grown and farmed organically.

The vineyard can be visited by appointment only