The Wonderful Wines of the Willamette – Part III No-Pinot?

Posted on   September 16,2019   By John and Linda Compisi

As previously chronicled, we invested 4 days of our lives in a deep dive into the ‘wonderful wines’ of the Willamette Valley in mid-August. We were part of a Wine Writers Education Tour (WWET) organized by founder and wine impresario, Fred Swan. Swan has phenomenal connections in the Willamette Valley and he pulled out all the stops to insure we had the best authentic experience. We met the legends, founders and winemakers, young and old, of this amazing wine region. Part I reported on our arrival and Day 1 adventures while Part II, the day we met the Legends, spot-lighted the Pinot Noir from the Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills, climate considerations, a Pinot Gris lunch and a dinner featuring ‘Other Varietals grown and produced in the valley. This is Part III and Swan had more surprises in store.

Another early day and a bus ride to a Gamay extravaganza at Methven Family Vineyards in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA (American Viticulture Area). The tasting seminar explored five Gamay producers. Gamay is a purple-colored (red) grape variety used to make red wines. Its home is in the Beaujolais region of Burgundy and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc.

Ian Burrows (Aerea Vintners) presented his 2017 Willamette Valley Gamay, Doug Tunnell (Brick House) offered his 2017 Ribbon Ridge ‘Due East’, Laura Lee, GM, Methven Family showed their 2017 Eola-Amity Hills Gamay, Vincent Fritzsche, standing in for friend John Grochau, extolled the virtues of the 2017 Grochau Cellars ‘Bjornson Vineyard’ and, finally, Fritzsche offered his own expression of the ‘Bjornson Vineyard’ with his Vincent ‘Bjornson Vineyard’ 2016 Gamay.

Each of these different Gamay showed how both the soils, the vintage and the winemaker can achieve a different brilliance in a glass of wine. The colors ranged from light to deep ruby and the flavors varied as well with good fruit, balance and structure. This seminar reminded us that Gamay is not just for the November Beaujolais Nouveau tradition but all year round. A serious wine when made seriously. These are all serious wines!

From Methven, we boarded the bus for the short ride to Brooks Winery for lunch and a survey of Willamette Valley Riesling. Riesling is a distant fourth in planted acres in the Willamette (Pinot Noir is first with over 15k acres, Pinot Gris is just short of 4k acres, Chardonnay at 1.7k acres is third and then the 286 acres of Riesling). This is more a reflection of Riesling’s popularity in the U.S not a commentary on the quality of Riesling produced in the Willamette! The wines we enjoyed at lunch were stellar.

Our host was Janie Brooks Heuck, brother of deceased winery founder Jimi Brooks. Jimi died in 2004 of a sudden heart attack, at 38 years old, leaving behind his 8 year old son (the film ‘American Wine Story’ offers more about his tragic event). The Brooks Winery is located in Eola-Amity Hills AVA. The facility is quite beautifully situated with a first-class tasting room.

The Rieslings poured included the Brooks ‘Extended Tirage’ Sparkling Riesling 2015; Brooks ‘Totality’ Riesling Estate 2017; Hyland Estates ‘Old Vine’ Riesling, McMinnville 2017; Trisaetum Riesling, Ribbon Ridge 2018; Ovum ‘Memorista’ 2017 Willamette Valley Riesling and, finally, the Alloro Vineyard, Chehalem Mountains 2016 Riesling. Each of these wines were distinctive while maintaining the typical Riesling characteristics. Although they were all delicious, the Trisaetum Riesling, Ribbon Ridge 2018, was the most pleasing to my palate. Interestingly, it was the youngest of the wines poured.

After lunch, we moved on to Youngberg Hill, located in the McMinnville AVA. This afternoon was dedicated to two seminars: one spotlighting Pinot Noir from McMinnville and the second focused on Willamette Valley Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir tasting included the Youngberg Hill ‘J’ Block 2016 Pinot; the Yamhill Valley ‘Tall Poppy’ 2015; the Day Wines ‘Momtazi Vineyard’ 2016; the Coeur de Terre ‘Sarah Jane’s’ 2015 and finished with the Hyland Estates ‘Coury’ 2016.  Again, all of these wines were solid, well structured and balanced. The standouts for my palate were the Day Wines ‘Momtazi’ presented by owner /winemaker Brianne Day and the Hyland Estates ‘Coury’ presented by winemaker Anne Sery. They just stood apart for their flavor profile and Pinot Noir characteristics.

The Chardonnay survey, again hosted by Youngberg Hill proprietor/winemaker, Wayne Bailey, featured five Chardonnay wines from around the Willamette. The Youngberg Hill ‘Aspen’ 2016 from the McMinnville Estate was the lead. Following the Youngberg were the Day Wines ‘Belle Pente’ 2016 from Yamhill-Carlton AVA; the ‘Le Belle Promenade’ 2017 Chehalem Mountains from Flâneur Wines; the Lingua Franca 2017 Estate Eola-Amity Hills and the Domaine Divio 2017 Willamette Valley. The Brianne Day produced Chardonnay, Day Wines 2016 ‘Belle Pente’, again, captured my palate. The 22 months in barrel produced a well structured and smooth Chardonnay. Delicious.

We were not done yet. At 5pm we left Youngberg Hills and headed to Maysara Winery and Momtazi Vineyards in McMinnville. We were greeted by Moe Momtazi, founder and proprietor, along with his wife Flora, his lovely family (three adult daughters) and his team. After a quick introduction and a welcome glass of 2018 Arsheen Pinot Gris (delightful) we were ushered down to the cellar for a Viticulture Seminar. This was, perhaps, the most exciting, disruptive and fascinating of all the non-tasting seminars. Five vignerons offered their individual perspectives on what makes a great wine grape growing philosophy. Shocking to describe this as explosive, but in many ways it was. Different versions of biodynamic, organic, sustainable or non-of-the-above philosophies were presented. Some of these owner/winemakers had never met before but this was a no-holds-barred free-for-all!

Our host, Moe Momtazi, kicked it off with beautiful descriptions of the nature balance (animals, plants, bugs, teas and raptors) he has fostered on his huge property. Claiming mostly, bio-dynamic practices, the property is flourishing. Rudi Marchesi, partner at Montinore Estates, offered a variation on the organic farming theme. Rudi was followed by Stephen Hagen of Antiquum Farms who described himself as a ‘Free-Range farmer who also, with his wife, is raising free-range children. Stephen uses cows and sheep for weeding and fertilizing between his vines but does[JC1]  not subscribe to any particular farming philosophy. He’s not ‘a joiner’!

Next up was Steve Girard, a displaced Napa Valley grower and winemaker (Girard Vineyards) and owner of Benton-Lane Winery. He left Napa to come to Oregon and do it differently! Steve embraces, in his words, the ‘good’ of the various farming philosophies including aspects of organic and bio-dynamic and believe in ‘low-input’ farming. Finally, self-proclaimed contrarian, Scott Flora owner, with wife Denise, of Native Flora took the floor and began dropping bomblets to explode the conventional wisdom. He selected his property against all the standard criteria. His focus is ‘improvability’ through pragmatism, innovation, intelligence, experimentalism, integration and empiricism. Scott does not subscribe to organic or biodynamic or even traditional farming.  He subscribes to ‘what works’. This viticulture seminar was informative, insightful and most of all entertaining!

To cap the day and the evening off, the group was feted to a spectacular dinner in the Momtazi/Maysara barrel room with game, fish and produce, nearly all, from their 400+ acre property and paired with delicious wines from all of the five producers who participated in the viticulture seminar. Truly a glorious finish to a spectacular deep dive into the Willamette Valley.

Exhausted and perfectly satisfied, we boarded our very comfortable Aspen Limo Tours bus for the short ride back to our hotel. The bus, usually filled with laughter and craziness was quiet. 8:30am to 10pm was another very long but fulfilling day.

But wait, there’s more!! As a coda to our three-day adventure day four of our great Willamette wine adventure was an optional bonus day which consisted of field visits to three of the participating wineries. This included a field trip around the Momtazi Vineyard with Moe Momtazi, a visit to the Native Flora property for lunch and a tasting with Scott and Denise Flora and finally a tour and tasting at Le Cadeau Vineyards with Tom Mortimer and his wife Deb. 

With good reason Moe Momtazi is proud of what he and wife Flora have created in the hills on their nearly 500-acre ranch and vineyard. Immigrants from Iran, Moe and Flora have taken risks to build one successful business after another and along the way, have raised their three American born daughters…all of whom are involved in the business. Momtazi showed us his huge composting operation, the vines on his hill top locations and the huge lake where the raptors on his property fish. A true American success story. Maysara’s tasting room is open 7 days a week but to be sure check their website for current information.

Scott and Denise Flora have been equally successful in their own contrarian way. As mentioned above, Scott, whose business background was focused on taking failing companies and ‘rescuing’ them, typically by ignoring the conventional wisdom and doing things that made sense despite the apparent folly of his ways. His wines are grown and made with a sense of humor and without taking himself, and the wine business, to seriously. Their property, located high in the Dundee Hills, is beautiful but can only be visited by appointment. Check the website for more info.

Tom and Debbie Mortimer own Le Cadeau Vineyards, a little piece of heaven high up on Parrett Mountain within the Chehalem Mountain AVA. In 1997 they found, purchased and planted their 16 acre property with a laser focus on producing complex, well-structured Pinot Noir. They have succeeded! The various Pinot Noir produced are priced between $50-$80 per bottle. Well worth it! Don’t miss it!

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