I’ve reached a point in my drinking life…that I’d like to find one producer from each AVA in Oregon to represent what I look for in a wine. I’ve already got Dundee Hills and Ribbon Ridge figured out…but I still need to find wines that fit what I’m looking for in: Yamhill-Carlton, Chehalem Mountains, Eola-Amity Hills, and McMinnville.
My first love in Oregon really was the Patricia Green Etzel Block. So they’ll be my Ribbon Ridge bottling…and they have no contest for this AVA the way I see it.
For Dundee Hills I’m going with John Thomas…I love his wines and the poise that they hold. Cameron & Arterberry Maresh were solid second choices. But like Patricia Green solidly has Ribbon Ridge…so does John Thomas have Dundee Hills.
If anyone knows these producers and could recommend someone from the other AVA’s I’m all ears.
For right now here’s where I think my palate leads me for the AVA’s I’m looking to fill.
Yamhill-Carlton: Ken Wright Pinot Noir McCrone Vineyard or Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Noir Roosevelt Vineyard
Chehalem Mountains: ??
Eola-Amity Hills: Evening Land Vineyards Pinot Noir Red Queen Seven Springs Vineyard
McMinnville: St. Innocent maybe ??
I really do love Oregon wines…and I’ve had some amazing experiences there. Yet as I look at moving forward I’m thinking I may want to build my cellar to represent each of the key AVA’s in Oregon and that means staying with the producers I love…while also looking for the best in the AVA’s I don’t know much or taste much from. Hopefully this will create some discussions about the different AVAs in the Willamette Valley and some of the better producers that are working in those AVAs.
Do they have a specific wine from an AVA that you like? I haven’t had any experience with them…How would you describe their style and which wine would you personally recommend?
I’m hoping to find wines that are representative of their AVA…and I’m not really sure I’ve got a clear understanding of that yet. Maybe I should just stick with the Patricia Green profile and buy their specific wines from the different AVA’s. My hope was to create some discussion here about the different AVA’s and what producers are doing a good job in those AVAs.
Cool thread, and I hope it gains some traction and good suggestions come in. My approach to Burgundy, back in my early Burg-centric days, was similar. However, my thought is that maybe you are too narrow to pick a specific bottling for each AVA, rather than picking a producer who may have multiple bottlings from that AVA. I like Domaine Hudelot-Noellat from Vosne-Romanee. Sometimes I buy their Suchots, sometimes the Beaumonts, sometimes the Malconsorts or Romanee Saint Vivants, Just a thought…
One other thought FWIW is that Ken Wright wines have always seemed somewhat spoofed up to me and maybe not reflective of their individual terroirs. YMMV.
Everything we make from Oregon comes from the Chehalem Mountains AVA (including a Chehalem AVA wine and some single vineyard Pinots). I am not saying those fit necessarily to your palate or that others would recommend them, but certainly feel free to reach out to me or give one of ours a shot to see…
The basic Eola-Amity hills was very good and reasonably priced. My favorite is the Zenith. The style is one of integrated oak, complex and very good fruit without any over concentration.
re the Chehalem Mountains: If you are looking for wineries that make a signature wine from an AVA - where the winemaker and the AVA are associated with each other to some extent, I can see why different producers for each region would make sense. Adelsheim, of course, is a benchmark for the Chehalem Mountains and the old vine Quarter Mile Lane pinot noir is a very nice expression but can be tough to find. J. Christopher does a nice job with Chehalem Mountains fruit from vineyards very close to Quarter Mile Lane that surround his winery (Olenik, Adams, and Lia’s Vineyard - disclaimer, I could be biased) and his touch is very subtle. (He also bottles an AVA series from Eola-Amity, Dundee and Chehalem Mtns.) Mike Hallock at Carabella makes a nice bottle of wine from their estate on Parrett Mountain - the Inchinnan Reserve is their top bottle. ROCO’s Private Stash is a longstanding wine from Rollin Soles’ estate just up the street from Lia’s Vineyard. Again, a consistent SVD wine from a producer who is associated with the neighborhood. White Rose makes nice wines from both Dundee Hills and Chehalem Mountains (they do a Lia’s bottling but also have a monopole of sorts on Luciole Vineyard on Parrett Mtn.). That’s just a few that would seem to fit the objective.
I think Chehalem is tricky because it’s so large and the geology is so diverse, with sizable chunks of land derived from volcanic, windblown loess, and marine sedimentary soils. As such, I’m not sure any single bottling would truly typify the AVA.
I’d love to learn more about how the six sub-AVA boundaries were settled on, if anybody here has some insight to share. I imagine there was some amount of debate among the petitioners, and I’ve read of pressure to push the petitions through before the number of wineries grew too great.
Yes, I do. It affords me a chance to get some regular variety from Oregon with wines from each AVA…as I continue to branch out and focus more on Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne, Barolo, and Austria.
The OP poses an interesting question, and I’ve enjoyed the responses. That said, if you asked the same question of any of the Pinot Noir specialized AVAs in California, I’m not sure it would make sense for two related reasons:
California’s AVAs are often nested to 4-5 levels (i.e. Green Valley AVA is part of Russian River Valley AVA, which is part of the Sonoma Coast AVA, which is part of the Northern Sonoma AVA, which is part of the North Coast AVA)
very few producers “specialize” in 1 AVA
Maybe because California’s AVAs are kind of a mess, I think more in terms of “regions.” I might break down a similar response as follows:
Russian River Valley: Rochioli or Williams Selyem (although they make great wines from all over Central and Northern California)
Sonoma Coast: Hirsch Vineyards, Littorai, or maybe Peay
Santa Cruz Mountains: Mount Eden (Rhys more recently, and David Bruce unfortunately no longer)
Anderson Valley: Navarro (but Littorai, although based in Sonoma, is my favorite producer with a large Anderson Valley presence)
Santa Maria Valley: Au Bon Climat
Jay,
Thanks for the insight into California Pinot and a correlation. I’m completely ignorant when it comes to California AVA’s & Pinot. I have been firmly lodged in the Willamette Valley for close to the past decade when it comes to buying and drinking Pinot Noir. I’ve been through Sonoma, Alexander Valley and some of the other smaller areas while out visiting friends in Napa. The wines are nice…and I enjoy them…yet there hasn’t been a wine that demands my attention yet like the wines of Oregon. I started this thread because it’s been awhile since I’ve really delved into new wines with any reason to start learning again. So I think I’m going to try this and see how it works. It may completely backfire on me like my joining the mailing list of Bergstrom in 2006 where most of the wines were over-blown after the first 2-3 years and one ended up smelling like tropicana tanning oil when I opened it a year ago.