Oregon Pinots This Pacific Coast Behemoth
Boasts Classic Burgundy-Style Reds
By Bernard Ledermann
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Although some Oregon wines trotted home with us three or four times a year, there was often a crap-shoot feel to most of those experiences. On the other hand, an occasional Pinot Noir (PEE’-no nwahr) or Pinot Gris (PEE’-no Gree [Pinot Grigio in Italian] ) from the Beaver State sometimes seized and further rumpled these lapels.
A confession: until the mid-90s this Pinot-head’s elided thinking held that the only duty of Pinot Noir was to appear in bottles from Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits vineyards. California’s Pinots, owing to some elevated alcohol levels didn’t satisfy fully—some were downright downbeat. (Too bad, for French Burgundies had begun to price themselves right out of my home.) As for Oregon’s efforts with Pinot Noir, there were few signs of any fever breaking out. Could the Northwest, that obscure back of beyond, possibly embrace such a demanding grape and coax out of it anything resembling the oft-opulent flavors of Burgundy?
There is simply no other variety of vine or grape so finicky about soils and subsoils, so sensitive to climatic conditions, with yields so inconsistent, and so expensive to produce. It is likely that the earliest attempts to isolate the vine and subject it to controlled cultivation occurred near the end of the B.C. era, but try as they will, viticulturists have never fully tamed the Pinot’s primitive impulses. No other vine mutates as quickly or with such bewildering results. In Burgundy alone, it is estimated there may be as many as a thousand Pinot Noir types. And one distinguished white wine grape, the Pinot Blanc, is an example of how red Pinot grapes can drastically transform themselves.
Fitful, vulnerable—so many crotchety-sounding adjectives to describe Pinot Noir’s behavior. Why would any winemaker in Oregon—or Burgundy, for that matter—want to tackle such uncertainty in a business already positioned on a fault-line?
This old philistine reaped many answers when Harry Peterson-Nedry, owner of Chehalem (Sha-HALE’-um) Winery near Newberg, Oregon came to town a few years ago for a charitable fund-raiser and trade tasting of his then current Pinots. At that point my earlier agnosticism on Pinots-USA began to dwindle. For an entire week-end, Peterson-Nedry—for whom winemaking seems a spiritual pleasure—played Professor Higgins to my Eliza Knownothing, generally fine-tuning my thinking and palate on Oregon wines. Striving always for precision, Harry defined shades of gray and examined brilliantly and honestly the state of his state’s wines, as both art and commodity. A shared tasting of his 1996 Chehalem Rion Reserve Pinot Noir (it had to be a touchstone wine for that vintage) showed how sensually captivating a New World Pinot can be.
It was surely predestined that Harry surfaced when he did, because a wine journey to the Pacific Northwest had been in planning stages for some months. With his considerable help, we were able to fashion, foremost, a complete guide to the wine appellations of Oregon. So armed, we took ourselves off to Portland, City of Roses, and surrounding Pinot hunting grounds.
Gliding into Portland International can be memorable, especially if the cone of Mt. Hood—obviously a Fuji wannabe—is visible and glistening mystically in the haze of early autumn. This is Oregon, land of nearly seventy ocean-side state parks, snowy peaks, fast-moving wilderness rivers, and inland streams. Translated from Latin, the state’s motto, “She Flies With Her Own Wings,” could just as easily be applied to Oregon’s wine industry.
As you step outside the airport terminal, you notice a pronounced gentle coolness in the air. In fact, the climate in this western part of the state is analogous to that in many of Europe’s fine wine regions. Interestingly, the city of McMinnville, considered the “home-base” for American Pinot Noir and only forty-five miles southwest of Portland, is roughly on the same latitude as Burgundy’s storied Nuits-St.-Georges. In addition, Oregon’s key viticultural areas contain numerous microclimates, those unique locales of cooling, warming, and drainage (Polk County is noted for such pockets) which bear directly on the welfare of vines and grapes.
A roll call of Oregon’s winegrowing regions reveals six controlled zones, some with ‘sub-zones’ (e.g., the precise ‘Yamhill County’ within “Willamette Valley”): Willamette Valley, largest appellation, encompasses a sprawling, seven-county area; Umpqua Valley, west-central, entirely within gigantic Douglas County; Rogue Valley in the southwest, covers two counties with Medford at its center; Central Oregon, on the high arid steppe land around the city of Bend; the Columbia River Valley; and the Walla Walla Valley in the far northeastern corner of the state.
Within these viticultural areas there is a definite quality heirarchy, especially for Pinot Noir, with Willamette Valley’s ‘Yamhill County’ designation in the starring role. Yamhill wineries which have distinguished themselves in production of Pinot include Rex Hill, Adelsheim, the aforementioned Chahalem, Erath, and Eyrie, which gave the world emphatic notice of Oregon’s potential with its amazing 1970 Pinot bottling.
If you’re starting from Portland’s airport, a sensible and satisfying two- or three-day adventure quickly gets you off expressways and onto the sometimes irksome Oregon Highway 99W. A trip, somewhat resembling a triangle, takes you down 99W to McMinnville—with possible side wanderings to wineries in the Eola Hills—then northwest to Forest Grove on Highway 47. and return to Portland on Route 26.
Should a permissive schedule allow, you can reach nearly all remaining wineries in western Oregon by rolling 270 miles down Interstate-5 all the way to Ashland, within shouting distance of California. Make special allowances to visit Lorane and King Estate wineries near Eugene, Callahan Ridge in the Umpqua district, and the Foris family vineyard and winery (Rogue Valley district) near Cave Junction.
For trip-planning kits or guides to Oregon wine country special events—of which there are no shortage—log on to www.oregonwine.com. The International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, OR is usually held in July.
Oregon discovery tastings
Generally, Oregon Pinot Noirs are best consumed within five to seven years of the stated vintage, provided the growing season was above-average. In the state’s cool climate, where untimely autumn rains will sometimes tumefy the grapes and cause a diluted vintage, recent harvests have been suprisingly consistent. Almost every Willamette Valley winery perked up with unexpected outcomes in 1997, a year initially thought “challenging.” Nineteen ninety-eight and ‘99 each resulted in lovely, ripe fruit; 2000, above-average again, if uneven in some localities; as for 2001, everyone’s shouting greatness, especially since the rains held off until most of the harvest was in the vats.
1999 ARGYLE (Willamette Valley) Pinot Noir ($29). A ripe, generous bottling with heaping doses of cherry-berry fruit from sip through swallow. Tannins are breaking down early so expect lusciousness for the coming two years. Also try the 1997 ARGYLE Brut sparkling wine (about $30). Must rate it among the top ten domestic méthode champenoise wines. Produced from Willamette Valley-sourced grapes, mostly Chardonnay, this brut shows a stylistic delicacy (take me back to Epernay....) across several vintages. You’ll love the layers of toasty pear intermingling with floral and spicy notes.
1999 CHEHALEM (Three Vineyards) Pinot Noir ($27). Peterson Nedry’s successes continue with this smooth, warm red. With deep, shimmering ruby color, it shows the lowered acidity found in grapes harvested on lower elevation slopes; spicy with a tantalizing figginess; has a protracted, saliva-arousing finish.
1999 ELK COVE VINEYARDS (Wm. Vly.) Pinot Noir ($20). Before Oregon totally registered with me, this winery near the town of Gaston helped raise my Pinot consciousness. Its releases remain among my favorites today; especially this beautifully structured bottle with pronounced black cherry aromas. Of good depth and offering anise-tinged flavors, this stalwart should lose most of its rigidity with another year of bottle aging. The ‘Cove’s’ outstanding 2000 PINOT GRIS ($15) remains the signature white and one of the state’s finest. Almost opulent, it oozes creamy pear flavors. Was there ever a better match with Pacific Rim dishes?
1999 and 2000 ERATH (Oregon) Pinot Noirs ($12/ea). California émigré Dick Erath has proven that his desire to make world-class Pinots in Oregon was no antic dream. These two “regionals”—analogous to Bourgogne-level Burgundies—are cracking good. Each rates a Bernie’s Best Buy. At first, the ‘99 showed an exotic scent, somewhat like hoisin sauce (later, intriguing cranberry scents). More classic cherry comes forward in the 2000 nose. Each wine is of middling weight, with the better ‘99 vintage showing slightly more extraction. Only a suspicion of oak present, so the refreshing, almost quenching, acidity and spicy accents are not masked. No doubt the 2000 will show better at the end of this year. Could become my “house red.”
1999 CRISTOM (Jessie Vineyard—one of four site-specific offerings) Pinot Noir ($43). To fans of sumptuous reds, this wine announces—n two-foot neon letters—I AM BIG. This winery strives for silky finesse, but this bottling is still a wee pre-pubescent to exhibit that property. In the center of the glass, it shows a deep purplish core (youth); first impressions on the nose were of something faintly spicy, but over the course of two hours it transformed several times, going from slightly tarry-to-truffly-to-strawberry. Initial flavors of sweet oak were evanescent, finally arriving at jammy fruit on the palate. My fellow diner/taster had a shared concern: a less than commendable dollar-to-quality ratio.
1998 KING ESTATE (Oregon) Pinot Noir ($20). Clearly, the preference in a flight of six Pinots from “south of McMinnville.” Pretty, fading ruby color; attractive cherry-vanilla on the nose; medium-bodied with tannins in transition, allowing velvety black cherry flavors to come forward; an extended two-minute finish with many savory notes echoing about the mouth and throat. Perhaps the most Burgundian of the Northwesterners tasted. Really a pleasure to drink.
Bernie Ledermann has been a sales team leader for various wine retailers since 1976. His notions on selecting wines occasionally appear on the net at www.seaboardwine.com.
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