The Wonderful Wines of the Willamette – Part I

Posted on   August 26,2019   By John Compisi

We just returned from a week in Portland with a focus on the Willamette Valley. We were part of a Wine Writers Education Tour (WWET) organized by wine impresario and founder, Fred Swan. Fred has such phenomenal connections in the Willamette Valley that we were showered with love from the founders and legends, young and old, of that amazing wine region. This was our first venture into Oregon Wines and we received so much information and tasted so many delicious wines, we have decided to break this down into four parts just to give appropriate time to all that we learned. This is Part I and it will focus on a delightful arrival-get to know each other dinner on Sunday and all of the adventures in wine we experienced on Monday, Day 1.

We flew into Portland (PDX) non-stop from our small but expanding Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport aboard Alaska Airlines. Arriving at PDX, we gathered four other writers arriving from Dallas, LA and South Carolina. Quite a diverse group. The ride from PDX to McMinnville, our home base, was about an hour and a half, mostly due to traffic as it is only about 50 miles away. After arrival, we checked-in and freshened up before gathering for dinner.

A tapas restaurant in McMinnville, La Rambla on Third Street, was a perfect choice for our ‘get-to-know-you’ introductory dinner. Seventeen of us (not everyone had arrived yet) descended on this charming spot. Swan ordered a few local Pinot Noir to get us started and left the food choices to us. Our table of 8 people ordered one of everything on the small plates menu and actual 2 or 3 of some dishes.  There were no losers and the wine kept flowing. Our table had a nice combo of new people and writers we had met in May of 2018 at the WWET Napa event. A great start.

Our Day One began with breakfast at our hotel and we were on the bus (quite comfortable) for departure at 10am. Our first destination was Argyle Winery in Dundee. We were welcomed by winemaker Nate Klostermann and Sales/Marketing Director Rob Alstrin of Argyle. The beautiful 2015 Vintage Brut they served was the perfect way to start a day. After quick hellos we were led to a meeting space for an overview of the geologic origins of the valley by Jason Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards. Jason put ‘education’ into the WW Education Tour by presenting a fascinating and scholarly history of the tectonic, volcanic, glacial and erosive chronology of the events that formed and informed the Willamette Valley (WV) and its current terroir.

With no time to waste we were ushered into another space for lunch and a tasting of four WV sparkling wine producers. The lunch consisted of delicious sandwiches but the focus was the sparkling, of course. First up was a ROCO 2015 RMS Sparkling Brut (Pinot Noir 70%-Chardonnay 30%) presented by Founder/Winemaker Rollin Soles. Beautiful and creamy! Soles was followed by Joe Ibrahim, winemaker at Willamette Valley Vineyards. The WVV 2015 Brut was vibrant but very smooth on the palate with a creamy and elegant structure. Third to present was our host winemaker, Nate Klostermann of Argyle.  The 2008 Extended Tirage Brut was full of crisp acidity and red fruit flavors. The 10 years of aging on the lees resulted in a deep creaminess. Finally, Rachel Rose, winemaker and vineyard manager at Bryn Mawr Vineyards, described her Innovation Series 2018 Pétillant. Meaning “slightly sparkling” in French, the wine is bottled at subzero temperatures and carbonation is infused into otherwise still wine. Nice bubbles with delicate aromatics and high acid. All quite excellent.

After this great first stop we were off to Ponzi Vineyards located in Sherwood, Oregon. The program described our next several flights as a ‘Comparison of Willamette Valley American Viticulture Area (AVA) through Pinot Noir’ (PN). It was masterfully and humorously moderated by noted wine educator, writer and speaker Elaine Chukan Brown. The first flight included eight amazingly different but similar PN from Dundee Hills, McMinnville, Yamhill-Carlton and Ribbon Ridge sub-AVAs. The vintages ranged from 2008 to 2017 and represented eight different vineyards and winemakers. This was our first in depth exposure to Oregon Pinot and we both thought the wines were more Burgundian in style than California Pinot, generally. Less fruit forward and more minerally then much of California Pinot. They definitely expressed the WV terroir.

The second flight Brown guided us through included eight additional wines from the remaining 3 sub-AVAs Chehalem Mountain, Eola-Amity Hills and the Van Duzer Corridor. The flight also included PN from Lower Long Tom and Mt. Pisgah, Polk County which are possible future sub-AVAs of the WV. Ranging in vintages from 2014 to 2017, these wines continued to display the similar Burgundian style but varied based upon the distinguishing terroir where they were grown.

All of the sixteen wines in these flights were very good. The highlights for me were the Ponzi 2016 ‘Madrona’, Chehalem Mtn and the Lumos Wine Co 2016 ‘Temperance Hill North Block’, Eola-Amity Hills. Both of these wines were rick and round with good acid and balanced tannins.

The next seminar was a spotlight on Chehalem Mountains and Ribbon Ridge AVAs and continued to be moderated by Brown. Joining her on the dais were Luisa Ponzi, winemaker for Ponzi Vineyards, Tom Mortimer, proprietor Le Cadeau Vineyard, Stephen Goff, winemaker, Colene Clemens Vineyards and Jim Anderson, winemaker Patricia Green Cellars. Again, we tasted through eight wines, two from each producer and found an amazing variety in flavor profiles while maintaining that consistent WV spine running through each of them. Four wines stood out: The Ponzi 2016’Abetina II, the Le Cadeau 2017 ‘Rocheux’, the Colene Clemens 2016 ‘Victoria’ and the Patricia Green 2016 ‘Wadensvil Block’, which was the first time tasting this selection of Pinot Noir grape. The first three of these were from various parts of the Chehalem Mountains AVA and the last was from Ribbon Ridge. None of these low production wines are inexpensive and a couple are sold out but they each offered well balanced and representative wines of their respective AVAs.

The next and final stop on our Day One journey was to Gran Moraine winery where our focus was the Pinot Noir of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. We were greeted by the Gran Moraine (GM) team with a delicious GM Sparkling Rosé of Pinot Noir, NV. Eugenia Keegan, General Manager of Jackson Family Oregon (four wineries), welcomed us as we began tasting through Pinot Noir from five different producers of Yamhill-Carlton PN. Representing the AVA were Anne Amie Vineyards, Trisaetum, Gran Moraine, WillaKenzie and Lenné Estate. These wines were delicious, each being distinguishable from the other but maintaining that similarity that sets these Oregon Pinots apart from California or New Zealand. Standouts for my palate were the 2016 Trisaetum ‘Coast Range’ presented by owner/winemaker James Frey and the 2016 Lenné Estate ‘South Slope’ offered by owner/winemaker Steve Lutz. The most memorable quote during this seminar came from Gran Moraine Shane Moore. When asked how he makes his decision on when to pick he opined that he picks ‘when the leaves stop talking to the grapes’!

The tasting was followed by a scrumptious dinner hosted by Jackson Family Oregon and featuring wines from their four Oregon properties, WillaKenzie, Gran Moraine, Penner-Ash and Zena Crown. A fabulous first day of this Willamette Valley adventure. We thoroughly our deep dive while enjoying six different sparkling wines and over 30 Pinot Noir from at least 18 producers!  Whew!!!

Stay alert to catch the highlights from the next couple days.

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