Today wine is made in all 50 States, but there are still only a handful of domestic wine regions so acclaimed and reliable the public knows them by name. Starting with Napa and Sonoma, it’s a pretty short list, and one of the top spots on it belongs to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. While California is best known for its cabernet sauvignon, rivalling Bordeaux, the Willamette Valley has taken on Burgundy and is now widely considered one of the world’s best growers and producers of pinot noir.
2015 marks the 50th anniversary of winemaking in the region, which was later designated an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1984. There is a lot of local hoopla surrounding the big birthday, so it’s a good time to reflect on how far these wines have come. It’s also a good time to think beyond the pinot noir standard bearer and consider some of the excellent newer wines coming out of the region.
Vineyards in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon produce some of the best pinot noir on earth.... [+]
“The Willamette Valley is celebrated for its world-class pinot noir, but wineries there are having great success with other varietals, too. It’s a fantastic place to grow grapes,” said my friend Dan Dunn, a well-known wine, beer and spirits writer. Dunn did a presentation on winemaking throughout America at the recent Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival, among the most prestigious such events in the nation, and he renewed my interest in these wines. After his panel, I chatted with him about the region.
There are more than 300 wineries in the area, but the best known names, such as top pinot noir producer (by volume) Erath, have been releasing pinot noirs since the early Seventies. Even as Oregon carved out a global reputation for the grape, it has expanded its horizons, and Erath recently began producing Chardonnay. Another early pioneer, Amity Vineyards, released its first pinot noir in 1976, but has never stopped innovating, was at the forefront of organic winemaking, and is now making pinot blanc, along with lesser known varietals like gamay noir. Longtime pinot noir producer Elk Cove makes a very good pinot gris, while legendary pinot producer Sokol Blosser also makes far less well known labels of sangiovese, pinot gris, and unusual blends of red and white grapes. And so on and so on.
Oregon's wines are great to drink, but it is even better to visit the scenic landscape in person.... [+]
Willamette Valley wines can be found in just about every retail outlet in the country, but it is also one of the best wine regions in the nation to visit in person, beautiful, welcoming, and with an abundance of locally made foods well suited to the wines. “World-class wineries. Beautiful scenery. A vibrant bar and restaurant scene. Willamette is undoubtedly one of the best wine regions to visit in the United States. And believe me, I’ve been to most of them.”
Dunn is the author of the forthcoming book American Wino (HarperCollins, early 2016), about the passion for and cultural uniqueness of winemaking in every corner of the nation. Having logged many thousands of miles driving coast to coast and back, meeting winemakers from Napa to Vermont to Louisiana, he has visited more different wine producing areas in the United States than anyone I know. After all that, the Willamette Valley is one of his favorites. “The town of McMinnville feels like the Napa of 25 years ago. Just an extremely cool town in the heart of wine country. The tasting room at Sokol Blosser is one of my favorites in the whole region. It’s a family owned winery that routinely produces some of the best pinot noir in a region known for making world-class pinot noir.”
If you do visit, there are far more wineries offering tours and tastings than you could possibly get to in a single trip. These come in every size and description, and with all sorts of special features from being pet or family friendly to boasting electric vehicle charging stations. To make it all a little more manageable, the Willamette Valley Wineries Association offers five helpful pre-planned wine tasting routes in different parts of the region.
Cheers!
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