In 2011 I traveled to the Willamette Valley to learn about and taste Oregon wines. My preconceived idea was that these were great wines. Everyone has heard how great their Pinot Noirs are right? So, in general, I expected to find great wines and an area that would compare to Napa Valley and France. However, it was not quite that experience. My observations and recommendations are as follows with a follow up on a tasting in 2018.
1. Oregon's Willamette Valley is a farming country more than it is wine country. When you go to Napa or France all you see are vineyards to the horizon. Not in Oregon. The vineyards are small and surrounded by orchards, grass fields, etc. To me, the area probably looks like Napa did 20 or 30 years ago so Oregon wine is still in its infancy.
2. Very few vineyards were in existence a few years ago. After a time there were about 150 but over the past 3-4 years, there are now over 450 vineyards and today it is 725. 500% growth literally overnight. A few people made some good wine, the land was cheap, and everyone and his brother who wanted to make wine and Pinot Noir moved to Oregon to try their hand at winemaking. As you can guess it would be unusual for 450 vineyards to all make outstanding wines. Somewhere along the way, things get diluted.
3. The party line is that the weather and soil in Oregon are ideal for making Pinot Noir. I am not so sure. The weather is rainy most of the time. The temperature fluctuates a lot and from year to year there are vast differences in weather and temperature that challenges even the best vineyards. 2007 was dry and hot, 2008 was considered ideal weather, etc. Vast differences year to year. I examined the soil and it is not like Napa or France. To me, it was more suited to grass than grapes. The area is, in fact, a rain forest and to me, that kind of soil is not that great for grapes.
4. 90% of the Pinots I tasted were extremely Tannic and unapproachable until last year. All the wines were "Good". No one makes "bad" wine anymore so it is more a question of style than anything else. But I really had a problem appreciating the fruit in these wines due to the overwhelming tannins. Most of them were also high alcohol, greater than 14% and had a slight amount of bitterness to them. At least one vineyard we went too, Stoller, recognized this in that they were "experimenting" by adding some type of powdered additional "tannin" which they never explained which they said would soften the tannins and soften the wine. But the bottom line to me was instead of just making the wine better they were manipulating the wine to make it sellable.
5. To me, the whites were much better. The Pinot Gris was some of the best I have had. In addition, there were a couple of world-class Chardonnays that clearly were Burgundian in style and you could put them up against French White Burgundy and you could not tell the difference.
6. There is a huge commercial push to selling these wines direct from the vineyard. At every vineyard, the push was to join their mailing list and get 2 cases of wine shipped directly to you a year. Seems to me the vineyards were very dependent on this manner of selling their wines to stay in business. To me, it means there is, in fact, no demand for their wines to speak of so without their "Cellar Clubs" they would be out of business. However "Cellar Clubs" have grown exponentially and lots of vineyards are now using this business model the world over.
7. There are almost no good places to stay and eat in the Willamette Valley at least not compared to Napa. The Allison Inn is the premier and best place but has only been there for 2 years. There are excellent restaurants but not many. Again it is primarily a farming country. Interestingly I found the cost of living to be very reasonable. In general, prices were about 30% less than elsewhere.
8. The absolute best vineyard and has been for years is Domaine Serene and it lives up to its reputation. Their basic Pinot and Chardonnay are world class, balanced, smooth and a joy to drink. But even Domaine Serene is on this kick to produce "single vineyard" "library" wines so they have expanded and are now making limited production of this kind of wines but the ones I tasted were again over tannic and higher in alcohol and not as good as their flagship wines.
The best wines we tasted and vineyards visited are listed here.
Lachini Pinot Gris
Lachini Pinot Noir Family Estate
Lachini Chardonnay Al di la Willamette Valley
Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir
Domaine Serene Chardonnay
Bergstrom Old Stone Chardonnay
Chehalem Ian's Reserve Chardonnay
Beaux Freres
Bethel Heights
Recommended Restaurants are Painted Lady and Dundee Bistro
I enjoyed most wines from Beaux Freres and Bethel Heights
Oregan Pinot Noirs revisited in 2018
I am happy to report that the 2015 Oregan Pinot Noirs tasted below last October were all very approachable. They were more balanced, had lower alcohol, and better fruit and I did not detect the bitterness I did in 2011. They clearly have improved. Recommended wines are as follows:
Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Sunnyside Vineyard 2015 WS93 $60
Starts with an earthy grassy nose which follows over to the taste with a slight grassy character. Tannins are balanced and do no offset the fruit which is a nice cherry flavor. It also has a nice long finish. Overall a well balanced good Pinot
Chapter 24 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Last Chapter 2015 WS91 $80
Starts out with a smoky nose but the mouthfeel was pure velvet and the wine is well balanced. Tannins to me were soft and sweet and the wine had a long finish. Plenty of cherry and berry fruit to taste. Not over oaked.
Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills Mimi's Mind 2015 WS94 $60
An interesting nose. When you first smell it, it is like smelling pure alcohol but that all goes away immediately upon tasting where a good strong showing of fruit to include cherry and here blackberry come in. Tannins are again soft and balanced with everything else. The finish is long and complex. I felt this was the best of the 4 in general.
Resonance Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton District Resonance Vineyard 2015 WS91 $35
Starts off with a smoky earthy nose but once on the palate lots of sweet fruit. It has a lighter body and seems to be a brighter wine. Has a great mouthfeel and the finish is long and pleasant. Had the best QPR of the bunch and at $35 you cannot beat it.
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