The State of Oregon Pinot

On the whole, winemakers are a cheerful bunch. Some of my fondest memories are of convivial encounters with viticultralists on the slopes of the Rhine or in the company of one of Campania's more eccentric vignerons. There are the odd exceptions, but most of the vintners you meet, when they aren't busy with the harvest, are quick to smile and offer a hand of friendship. And why not? Often they ply their trade in areas of outstanding natural beauty and, if successful, their produce is enjoyed by many. The wine trade is a sociable industry and it must give immense satisfaction, and a little pride, to imagine that the vines one has nurtured for so long produce a product that, when shared with friends and family, reaches to the heart of what it is to enjoy human civilization.

Some of the friendliest and most entertaining winemakers I have met on the wine route hail from Oregon. My first introduction to that small, artisanal wine region in the Pacific Northwest came through an evening several years ago with Myron Redford, the owner of Amity vineyards, who has been described by some in the industry as prickly and stubborn. This must refer to his winemaking style, as when we met, he was generous and colorful, and his wines weren't bad either. I was particularly impressed with his Gewürztraminer, which had an Alsatian feel, with a boisterous floral nose replete with notes of pineapple and lychee. His Pinot Noir, a grape variety he says it took him 35 years to master, lies somewhere between good New Zealand Pinot Noir and good red Burgundy.

[drinking now]

With a tiny production and a strong domestic market, Oregon wines are scarce on the shelves of European wine merchants. Firesteed is one of the few labels to get through. Its first vintage was in 1992, from fruit brought in from other wineries, much in the same vein as the négociant system in Burgundy. The 2007 has been described as a classic Oregon vintage, with summer temperatures slightly cooler than in the previous decade. The nose is quite forward, with earthy notes of mushrooms and plum, but what impressed me was the length that carried on tantalizing the palate with spiciness. This might be overwhelmed in a line-up of other Pinot Noirs around the world, but is an interesting introduction to Oregon.

I was reminded of Mr. Redford when a small band of Oregon's winemakers recently jetted into London to show a comprehensive range of the state's Pinot Noir. It was an interesting tasting, not least to ascertain just how far quality levels have risen in the last decade, particularly on a renewed following, helped significantly by the film "Sideways," which fixed the region in wine buyers' consciousness.

Oregon is very much the new kid on the block. In 1989, there were just 77 wineries and 320 vineyards. There were even fewer in 1979, when the region caught the attention of the international wine community after Eyrie Vineyards' David Lett submitted a Pinot Noir from his '75 vintage into a blind wine tasting organized by Burgundy's Robert Drouhin. Surprise, surprise, the Oregon-produced Pinot Noir did well, more than impressing its aristocratic cousins in Burgundy. Today, there are 387 wineries and 835 vineyards, but it's still very small and, in winemaking terms, very new. But so much of wine production is bound up with the cultural history of a region and its sense of place, I couldn't help but wonder about the ancestry of today's Oregon vintners.

It is often said that the winemakers of Oregon pride themselves on their small-scale, quirky ethos and how different they are from their compatriots in California. Perhaps this comes from their ancestry, for it was here in the 1840s that the wagon trains carrying thousands of emigrants ended the 3,000-kilometer journey across the rugged and sometimes desert land to find a new life in the West. They survived and today their descendants produce wines with real character.

Pinot Noir was first brought to the area in 1965, according to the "Oxford Companion to Wine," when Charles Coury from California introduced a range of Alsace grape varieties. Most of the vineyards today have an exposure to the maritime breezes of the Pacific Ocean, which result in mild winters but cooler and wetter summers.

Perhaps the best-known wine district is the Willamette Valley, which stretches along the west bank of the Willamette River. It is here that the Pinot Noir I tasted took on that cool, tight, classic Oregon character. Producers such as Anne Amie Vineyards, Bethel Heights Vineyards, Daedalus Cellars and WillaKenzie Estate Winery are all worth looking out for. Since the 1980s, there has been an influx of investors looking to capitalize on Oregon's potential. The wines are improving and one suspects its best days lie ahead, but it will always be a region driven more by philosophy than the demands of the market.

Write to Will Lyons at wsje.weekend@wsj.com

Production Is Up and They're More Affordable. But What About Quality?

... Three years ago, in our last broad blind tasting of Oregon Pinot, John found that the wines had indeed become more complex and interesting, while Dottie continued to enjoy their pure fruit and sense of place. At that time, though, we cautioned that many good Oregon Pinots were very hard to find and that most were pricey. Since then, there have been a few good developments: Oregon Pinots have become more widely available and more are priced at $20 or less, at least partly as a result of a particularly abundant crop in 2006. In fact, Oregon crushed more than twice as much Pinot Noir in 2007 as in 2004. We were eager to know: How is quality holding up?

We conducted a large blind tasting to find out. We bought more than 50 off store shelves. We set a limit of $60 -- not $50 because there were so many between $50 and $60. We focused on the 2006 vintage because those are the most widely available, but we picked up some 2005 wines as well. While many of these wines were well-known old friends, from Adelsheim and Argyle to WillaKenzie, our sample also included some small-production wines, because the average Oregon winery produces fewer than 5,500 total cases. We also included names that are highly regarded, such as Domaine Drouhin and Beaux Frères, but have never been among our personal favorites.

We tasted the wine in blind flights over several nights. In honor of the tasting, we cooked a special meal each night that seemed right for the wine: duck one night, for instance, stuffed roasted chicken another, and lamb another. We tasted the wines before dinner and then retasted the best with the food.

We are delighted to report that Oregon Pinot continues its upward trajectory. The difference in the wines over the years is remarkable. We found again and again in this tasting that the wines have developed a confidence and depth that beautifully complement their lovely fruit. The wines have not only a purity of fruit but a purity of vision that is very attractive. Like Burgundy itself, these are wines that speak softly to the more romantic parts of our being.

As you know, we've been big supporters of California Pinot Noir for many years. Long before "Sideways," we argued that it was the most consistent American red wine on shelves, both above and below $20. In our most recent tasting of California Pinot, however, we raised some warning flags. We felt that too many California Pinots were on the verge of becoming heavy and too obviously "made," as though, in a post-"Sideways" world, the winemaker wanted to be sure he or she was the star instead of the fruit itself. Too many of the Pinots, as a result, seemed ponderous, possibly over-oaked and maybe even a little sweet -- all in all, not the elegant and haunting Pinots we want and expect.

Oregon's offerings have so far avoided this trap. In our tasting, the fruit was allowed, again and again, to speak for itself. Sure, we used descriptive words like raspberries, tobacco, earth, chocolate and even funk (which is a good thing, in limited amounts, in Pinot). But the more important words we used over and over were integrity, honest, true. The winemakers allowed the vineyards themselves, the fruit itself, the terroir itself, to star. This is what makes great Pinot what it is -- an expression of place. When we tasted these wines, we imagined the vintners standing among the vines crushing a grape between their fingers, smiling broadly and deciding that the best thing they could do is not screw it up. This made the wines, on the whole, both tasty and relaxed, as though no one was trying too hard (though we know, of course, what really goes into this).

All of this reminded us of Oregon Pinot Noir pioneer David Lett, the owner and winemaker of Eyrie Vineyards, who died two weeks ago. Mr. Lett began making Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley in 1970 and he well understood the requirements of Pinot Noir grapes. "The most important thing is to get them harvested at the right time, then keep your mitts off them, because human intervention often messes it up," he told us in 2004.

The index will tell you what our favorites tasted like and about how much they cost. We're delighted that two of our favorites in this tasting cost about $20, though our best of tasting, Domaine Serene, cost more than $50. The winery says it made 7,500 cases of the 2005 that were distributed nationwide. The 2006 will be released next year...

Wine was made in Oregon in the 19th century. Some of it was from grapes, but most was from other fruit – apples, pears, cherries. It wasn’t until1961, when Richard Sommer set up shop in an old barn in the Umpqua Valley in southern Oregon and planted riesling, that the modern Oregon wine industry began.

Born in Oregon, Mr. Sommer grew up in California and got into wine at the University of California at Davis. He had spent time on a family farm in Oregon and was drawn back in spite of dire warnings from his Davis colleagues that there was no future for wine north of the California state line. His Hillcrest Vineyards in Roseburg made Oregon an irresistible lure for other Californians who wanted to make wine away from California’s commercialism.

By 1968, three others from U.C., David Lett, Charles Coury and Dick Erath, had headed north. They passed Roseburg and staked out their vineyards in the Willamette Valley, some 35 miles west of Portland. And they planted what would become Oregon’s iconic grape, pinot noir. Other pioneers arrived, David Adelsheim, Dick Ponzi and Bill Sokol-Blosser among them. As new Oregonians, they labored in relative anonymity, convinced that they would one day produce great wines.