Wines of Willamette and Rogue Valley
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To be a winemaker in Oregon requires a few key characteristics: patience, determination, and adaptability. Oregon has an ever-shifting and difficult “Oregonian” climate when it comes to winemaking. Sunlight and heat are in short supply and the threat of rain and frost is always looming, especially in the spring and fall when grapes are the most vulnerable. When winemakers started growing Pinot Noir in Willamette Valley in the 1960s, they emulated the viticulture and winemaking practices of Burgundy. Aaaand...they failed miserably. They next tried modeling their winemaking after Californian winemakers, which proved to be another disaster. It wasn’t until Oregon’s vintners found their own individual groove and identity that their grapes and wine started to thrive!
By the early 2000s the Oregon wine scene had established a solid reputation for producing not just Pinot Noir, but also the white wines of Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Chardonnay. A group of winemakers in Willamette Valley collectively decided which areas in the state had unique enough terroir to separate into AVAs (American Viticultural Areas). They decided upon six AVAs: Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge, and Yamhill Carlton.
So, you quit your desk job and you’re on your way to becoming a winemaker in Oregon - congratulations! Like a New Englander, you’ll need three layers of clothing per day for the changing weather. You’ll also need gumption, comfortable boots, and most certainly a truck. After a month, you’ll get sick of correcting your friends' pronunciation of your new home (“It’s Willamette, dammit!"), and you’ll spend your days driving to different vineyard sites across Willamette Valley to check on your grapes, or to check in with grape growers from whom you’re buying. Instead of having vineyards in their backyards, many winemakers own multiple plots across different AVA.
For a delicious example of an Oregon white wine, try Big Table Farm Chardonnay made by Brian Marcy and Clare Carver, who buy their grapes from two AVAs including Chehalem Mountains and Eola-Amity Hills. Chehalem Mountains is the most northern AVA and the largest at a whopping 68,000 acres! These hills are known for their soil mixture of basalt, marine sediment, and loess. Big Table buys the remainder of their Chardonnay grapes from the most southern AVA in Willamette Valley, Eola-Amity Hills. Here soils are composed of volcanic basalt and marine sediment. Even though this AVA is south of Chehalem, it is quite cool from the Pacific Ocean breeze. This blend of all Chardonnay grapes is fermented with natural yeasts and aged for eleven months in French oak barrels. The label is a sketch of bees nesting on honeycomb, which was drawn by the winemaker Clare, who also runs an art studio on their 70-acre farm. Pair this decadent wine with lobster to highlight its notes of beeswax, white pear, and butter.
The organic winery Brebis is essentially a celebration of sheep! Brebis means ‘the ewes’ in French and is owned by the Shaffer’s, whose surname translates to ‘shepherd’ in German. The Shaffer’s main focus is Pinot Noir based in the AVA of Eola-Amity Hills, but they also experiment with Sauvignon Blanc. Les Brebis Pinot Noir is aged in French oak and has juicy notes of raspberries and cherries, while Les Brebis Sauvigon Blanc boasts flavors of kiwi, gooseberry, and lemon.
Further south near the border of California is Oregon’s Rogue Valley AVA. This is where the grapes for Day Dolcetto are grown. Typically Dolcetto is grown in Piedmont, Italy but this is a playful, West Coast twist on the Italian tradition! Winemaker Brianne Day, who grows some of her own grapes, and also buys grapes from across Oregon, received a request from a distributor to create a chillable red that would be excellent to serve from a keg. Her Dolcetto grapes undergo semi-carbonic maceration to keep the wine light and fresh. This wine is a fantastic late summer red with bracing acidity and ripe notes of blackberries and Luxardo cherries.
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