I’ve been aware of Oregonian wine for many years but, like most
Californians, I have been more loyal to the wine I find in my own
neighborhood in San Benito County or on weekends touring the
California countryside from The Alexander Valley to Temecula.
I’ve been aware of Oregonian wine for many years but, like most Californians, I have been more loyal to the wine I find in my own neighborhood in San Benito County or on weekends touring the California countryside from The Alexander Valley to Temecula.
Last week I got the chance to visit the Portland area for the first time, and I spent a couple of days exploring Oregon’s beautiful Newberg and Dundee wine regions a short drive from the city, and tasting some of my favorite wines: Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.
Oregon has more than 250 wineries, and is ranked fourth in the USA for wine production. Many of the wineries have distribution in California, but you are more likely to find them on restaurant wine lists than at the grocery store. By visiting the region you will get a chance to see the full range of products, and many of the wineries I visited were pouring a range of five or six Pinot Noirs and two to three Pinot Gris plus a selection of other varietals, including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
Pinot Noir is one of the oldest grape varieties to be cultivated for the purpose of making wine. Ancient Romans knew this grape as Helvenacia Minor and vinified it as early as the first century AD. It’s called Pinot because of its characteristic pinecone shaped bunches.
The Burgundy Region of France is a perfect climate for the Pinot varieties.
The vineyards slope gently down toward the east, providing the vines with long sun exposure yet avoiding afternoon heat. The soil there is very chalky, which offers good drainage. Well-drained soils have a higher average temperature, which assists ripening. Pinot Noir seems to reflect more pronounced “Gout de Terroir,” or flavor of the soil, than other black grape types, making vineyard site selection a critical factor.
The Oregon wine regions mimic the conditions found in Burgundy for growing Pinot grapes. The North Willamette Valley, where I spent my time tasting last week, is a beautiful landscape of gentle rolling hills and magnificent vistas. The cool oceanic weather that rolls in from the coast, about an hour drive away, is the ideal growing climate for these delicate and somewhat temperamental grapes.
The winemakers of the region are entrepreneurial and explorers by nature it seems. In 1966, David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards first introduced Pinot Gris in Oregon. What started as an experiment soon turned into a love affair with the varietal across the state.
Pinot Gris is a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape – gris means gray in French – and the grapes are a dusty pale green on the vine. Depending on the style of winemaking, the Pinot Gris grape is also known as Pinot Grigio style: light-bodied, sometimes spritzy flavors, crisp and acidic; Oregon style: medium bodied; crisp, lively flavors with aromas of pear, apple and/or melon; or Alsace style: medium- to full-bodied; rich and floral.
All of the wineries I visited had a unique family heritage, friendly and knowledgeable staff and a wide variety of wines at very reasonable prices; if you are a Pinot Noir fan like me, you know how pricey they can be. I only got to visit several of the 250 wineries in Oregon on this trip, and they all had one or two wines on their tasting lists I found exceptional. I was particularly impressed with the complexity and quality of the wines from Lange Winery and Duck Pond Winery’s large selection of varietals of
consistent quality, both near the quaint town of Dundee.
I hope to return to Oregon soon to do more tasting, only 240 more wineries to go! Until then, I will be looking for the Oregon label at the wine store and on the menu more often.
For a list of wineries in Oregon visit www.oregonwine.org.
