Where did you grow up and how did your interest in wine come about?Josh:I grew up in Portland, Oregon, the son of an obstetrician/gynaecologist in Portland, Oregon, and knew nothing about wine for most of my life.When I was 21 (1996) my mum and dad asked if I wanted to join them to start a vineyard business. I was head over heels with the idea. I have a lot of respect for my father, who immigrated from Sweden when he was 17 years old, put himself through medical school, and became a renowned surgeon who helped pioneer a lot of advancements in women’s health in Oregon.I was very entrepreneurial, liked working and being busy. I remember buying a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir, a wine glass and corkscrew, trying wine for the first time and thinking “wow this is very interesting”.Then I opened up the Yellow Pages and called the first winery I found which was Rex Hill. Lynn Penner-Ash, the winemaker at the time, essentially hired me over the phone. In a leap of faith I took a full semester off school to work for Lynn.Once I started learning about wine and chemistry, agronomy and soil science, and then the cultural side, I was smitten.I finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon, then moved to Beaune in Burgundy where I earned my B.P.R.E.A (Brevet Professionnel Responsable d’Entreprise Agricole), which is a technical license required in France to run a Domaine ‒ a lot of the Domaine owners send their sons and daughters to these schools to get this license.So, France is where I got my formal education. By then I had two harvests under my belt, at Rex Hill and the Ponzi family.Caroline:Growing up in Beaune in Burgundy, a city synonymous with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, everything touches wine ‒ it is part of the culture and everyday life.From age 14, I would pick up little jobs, like doing travaux en vert in the vineyards.I went to university to become a teacher and realized that it wasn’t for me. I moved back to my hometown, enrolled in an Oenology and Viticulture program with a focus on sales and marketing, met people from all over the world, and saw this industry and my city in a different light.It is also where we met.When did you return to the United States and what was the status of Bergström at the time?When I left for France in the summer of 1998, my father was actively buying grape vines, posts and wires. So, the first 8 acres (3.2 hectares) of vines were planted while we were in France.Our impetus to get back was to make our first vintage in 1999 as a family. Caroline and I had met and got engaged, so all of a sudden it was like “do you want to move with me to Oregon?” She said “yes,” and that started a wonderful adventure together.We had to abandon that first vintage because of the poor quality of the fruit that we had contracted to buy. It was only thanks to Gary Andrus and our new friends at Archery Summit Winery who sold us some quality fruit, that all of a sudden the vision was there again.That’s how we got started. Rented space, rented equipment, buying fruit ‒ nothing was ours except our name, and at the time we didn’t even know the name of our brand.Flash forward 30 years, and we are an estate-monopole biodynamic producer. We farm 30 hectares on 5 different estate properties, with our own facilities, equipment and team of 20 people.That was always the vision, but you had to start somewhere.What differences did you bring to the Oregon wine scene with your Burgundian outlook?We didn’t bring something different right away. As a young couple we were trying to establish a business as well as who we are as a brand and an identity. In wine that comes through in philosophy, but also through taste and palate.In the early days I tried to mimic styles that were successful.At a certain point you get enough history behind you and comfort in your methods as a technician, to start to express your own voice. The biggest ‘aha’ moment for us was when we realized we were tasting and enjoying wines at home that were completely different to what we were making.So we started to pursue the wines we wanted to drink, that paired with a meal like they do in Burgundy.This is where the Burgundian background came in because “why is Burgundy so delicious ‒ natural acidity.”Rather than waiting for big sugars, big Brix and large alcohols, we wanted to start harvesting much earlier than many of our neighbours, to get the bright, natural succulence, juiciness, salinity, umami.The first time Caroline and I went to Japan and were introduced to the concept of umami, and tasting bonito, seaweed and sea urchin, we were like how do you get that into wine, to have these flavours?These changes can’t be seismic, but we knew the direction we wanted to go, moving from extraction to infusion, and switching focus from power and opulence to elegance and ethereality.By picking earlier, using more stem ‒ we now do 100% whole cluster in our Pinot Noir, to get savouriness and salinity into the wine ‒ less oak, backing off the alcohol, we created a Bergström style that then became synonymous with Willamette style.I don’t believe in the statement that “wine makes itself.” Wine that makes itself is called vinegar.But we do know the least amount we can intervene to best showcase the succulence of the fruit, the brightness and freshness of the acidity, the florality, to make the most Willamettian style wines.How do you go about infusion?We harvest, ferment and age separately about 180 different wines from our 5 estate vineyards. Lots of micro-cuvees, from 1.5- to 3-ton fermentation sizes, keeping clonal and select blocks separate.Our approach to winemaking has changed a lot over the years, taking multiple steps to get the elegance and ethereality.To capture that in an infusion as opposed to an extraction, we pick all of our vineyards 3 times:An early pick at a natural alcohol of 11.5%A second at 12.5%A third at 13.5%This gives us the complexity of multiple fermentations from different picking times, that we blend back together to get great natural acidity without being too ripe or too high in alcohol.The 3-part winemaking process I developed over many years starts like a Beaujolais carbonic maceration — an anaerobic period for 3 or 4 days where intracellular fermentation begins.Then we take the lid off and start to pump or bucket over, transitioning from anaerobic to aerobic fermentation.These days all operations are gentle and only once a day, washing the fruit with its own juice to maintain freshness and sanitation — thus infusion rather than extraction.We then drain and press before the alcohol becomes too high and can leach tannins from the seeds and stems, finishing the wine in neutral vessels off solids to create silky textures and elegance.This 3-phase process plus the 3 different pickings per vineyard allow us to achieve both complexity and elegance.How do you approach the Chardonnay in the winery?We only make two Chardonnays, Old Stones and Sigrid, which is named after my grandmother.Old Stones captures the vibrancy, salinity, succulence, natural acidity, citrus fruit and citrus rind florality that define our style.What sets our Chardonnays apart is the 15-year solera of lees.Since 2011, I have kept the lees from each vintage and blended them into the next, almost like a sourdough levain.This gives memory and texture to the wine and allows us to harvest earlier while maintaining balance and structure.Tell me more about your biodynamic farming processWe’ve been biodynamic since inception for all vineyards we’ve planted.It was something I was introduced to while studying in Burgundy.Over the years our mindset changed from selfishly wanting to make better wines to wanting to help regenerate the planet.We aim not only to be sustainable, but regenerative — leaving the land better than we found it.We recently had 150 sheep grazing in the vineyards, naturally fertilising the soils. We also build over 300 tons of compost annually and avoid herbicides and synthetic NPK fertilisers.When you walk into our vineyards, they are noisy because there is life — birds, insects, biodiversity.We also farm about 4 hectares of gardens that provide food for our tasting rooms and herbs for teas.The challenge with biodynamics is that it requires proactive rather than reactive farming. Everything must be planned far in advance, and the labour demands are extremely high.At the same time, climate change has brought consistently ripe vintages to traditionally cool-climate regions like Oregon and Burgundy over the last 10–15 years.What does the future hold?Caroline and I recently purchased land in the Chehalem Mountains where we will plant approximately 3 hectares of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.The site sits at 300 metres elevation, faces north, and features volcanic soils — completely different from anything else we currently farm.It will likely become our final estate vineyard, although fruit production is still around five years away.Our eldest son, now 24, already works full-time at the winery and has expressed strong interest in wine.We built Bergström as a multi-generational business, and it appears to be heading in that direction.Bergström’s 5 VineyardsNone of the vineyards use conventional farming methods. Instead, they have practiced biodynamic (uncertified) regenerative agriculture since planting (La Spirale only since 2019).BergströmAVA: Dundee HillsElevation: 106–116mArea / Planted: 5.3ha / 1999Soil: Volcanic clay over basaltVarietals: Pinot Noir, ChardonnayWinery BlockAVA: Chehalem MountainsElevation: 122mArea / Planted: 0.8ha / 2002–2005Soil: Deep sandy marine sediments over sandstoneVarietals: Pinot Noir, ChardonnaySiliceAVA: Chehalem MountainsElevation: 122mArea / Planted: 5.7ha / 2001–2006Soil: Deep sandy marine sediments over sandstoneVarietals: Pinot Noir, ChardonnayLa SpiraleAVA: Ribbon RidgeElevation: 122–137mArea / Planted: 8.9ha / 2005Soil: 14 types of marine sediments over shale and silt bedrockVarietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, SyrahLe Pré du ColAVA: Ribbon RidgeElevation: 117–122mArea / Planted: 6.5ha / 2006Soil: Marine sediments over shale and silt bedrockVarietals: Pinot Noir, ChardonnayPICKUP WINES#12959 Bergström Pinot Noir La Spirale Vineyard 2022Origin: Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, OregonVariety: Pinot Noir 100%Alc. 13.6%RRP incl. tax:￥20,460The Pinot Noir from La Spirale Vineyard (meaning “vortex”) shows some of the most floral flavours in the Willamette Valley. The vines are over 19 years old. Whole-cluster fermentation, aging in French oak barrels (10–15% new), and unfined. The bouquet of flowers and spices complement the meaty notes and minerality of oyster shell. The palate is fresh, like a “platter of juicy fruit sprinkled with flower petals.”#12960 Bergström Pinot Noir Le Pré du Col Vineyard 2022Origin: Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, OregonVariety: Pinot NoirAlc. 13.3%RRP incl. tax: ￥20,460Located close to La Spirale, this vineyard is owned by the Hill family but cultivated and managed by Bergström since its inception. The vines are over 18 years old. Whole-cluster fermentation and aging in French oak barrels (10–15% new). Unfined. The red to deep red fruit flavours unfold with a light, savoury note, while the sharp acidity, minerality, and deep structure suggest long-term aging potential.#13426 Bergström Old Stones Chardonnay 2023Origin: Willamette Valley, OregonVariety: Chardonnay 100%Alc. 13.3%RRP incl. tax: ￥9,350From three vineyards (Bergström, Le Pré-du-Col, and Silice). Average vine age: 25 years. Gentle whole-cluster pressing of free-run juice was spontaneously fermented in French oak (10–15% new). 100% MLF. Aged on lees for 12 months, followed by six months in stainless steel vats. A persistent minerality provides the structure, while rich flavours of white pineapple and citrus fill the mouth.#13427 Bergström Pinot Noir Cumberland Reserve 2023Origin: Willamette Valley, OregonVariety: Pinot Noir 100%Alc. 13.6%RRP incl. tax￥9,350A blend of some of the finest barrels from our five estate-farmed vineyards, all carefully combined to showcase Oregon Pinot Noir at its best, showing a unique vintage’s character combined with the perfect marriage of spice, mineral, and fresh fruit flavours. Whole-cluster fermentation, aging in small French oak barrels (10–15% new), unfined. Bright red fruit enhanced by salinity from the sandy soil and light oak add further depth.