Oregon: Beyond Pinot Noir

BY JOSH RAYNOLDS | JANUARY 4, 2017

Those who follow Oregon’s wines can be forgiven for missing out on the State’s non-Pinot Noir bottles, such is Pinot’s dominance of the market. In sheer dollar terms, in 2015 Pinot Noir was responsible for $1.1 billion in sales while all of the other varieties combined accounted for just $55 million. But that doesn’t mean that Oregon’s wine producers are throwing in the towel on anything that’s not Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley. Far from it. In fact, the quality of wines made from “outlier” varieties has never been better, as my recent visits to the area and tastings in New York have confirmed. Given the moderate, ocean-influenced climate that influences Oregon’s wine-growing regions, it isn’t surprising that grape varieties from historically cool European wine regions have found a comfortable home in the Beaver State.

Outside of the Willamette Valley, the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon may have the best potential to catch the wine-buying public’s attention. But that comes with a caveat, namely that what looks to be the most exciting variety there is Syrah, a grape that has had a difficult time catching fire in the wider American market for years now. That’s not hard to understand, in my opinion, because Syrah in its most classic produces savory wines, with fruit often playing a secondary role to herb, spice and even game character—in other words, just about the antithesis of the silky red fruit character that makes Pinot Noir so viscerally appealing.

Some of Oregon's best Chardonnays emerge from the rolling Dundee Hills AVA

Chardonnay in Oregon

Owing to the wide range of methods used to produce Oregon Chardonnay, I believe that it’s far more difficult to define a “typical” style for the variety here than for Pinot Noir. While the vast majority of Pinots are aged in small French oak casks of varying age, Chardonnay is made and raised in stainless steel, concrete, wood and even clay vessels, and in some cases all of those vessels are used to make a single bottling. Individual producers often make Chardonnays in a variety of guises—say a stainless steel non-malolactic version and a full-blown, barrel-fermented, full-malo rendition, and sometimes something in between those two stylistic extremes.

The best Oregon Chardonnays, unsurprisingly, display distinct Burgundian character and these wines are made in a fashion similar to their Old World role models. Also unsurprisingly, most of the best examples are being made by winemakers who are from Burgundy, were trained and educated in the region, or at the very least have spent and continue to spend time there. While only a handful of Oregon’s Chardonnays can compete with the best of California to this point, the top examples are indeed among the very best Chardonnays I’ve had from the New World and, in fact, are as good as many highly regarded white Burgundies. Among the best examples of Oregon Chardonnay, and there are a number of them, I highly recommended those from Bergström, Lavinea Single Vineyard Wines, Arterberry-Maresh, Walter Scott, Ponzi, Stoller, Eyrie, Amalie Robert, Big Table Farm, Domaine Serene and Domaine Drouhin. I also quite like the often off-beat, Old World versions made by Johan Vineyards and Brick House.

Pinot Gris