I’ve been looking for a good book on the history / current state of Oregon wine. Has that book been written, or are things just changing too quickly?
Good question. I have no idea.
Boys Up North was short, but enjoyable. The Grail by Doyle was a decent read. I have the Sokol Blosser and Oregon Wine Country Stories that arrived today from Powell’s and are in the queue. So far, not much beats the Linfield interviews.
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It’s not a book, but if you want information on both the history and the current state of OR wine I cannot recommend the Oregon Wine History Archive highly enough.
A ton of interviews and information. https://oregonwinehistoryarchive.org/
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I couldn’t agree more about the Oregon Wine History Archive! I posted a thread last year advising anyone interested in Oregon to go listen. But it would be great to have a book that allowed you to follow the story from a less granular perspective and admire maps along the way.
100% agree!
I have heard good things about Pinot Girl by Anna Maria Ponzi. Lots of history growing up in the family of one Oregon’s wine pioneers.
Pretty sure we have 2 pretty damn good Oregon wine books on this forum, Jim and Marcus.
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OWHA has a daunting number of interviews. Where to begin?? Some pointers would be helpful for those (like me) who don’t know the players.
Katherine Cole’s book Voodoo Vintners focuses on biodynamic producers (mostly?) in the Willamette Valley.
I don’t know of one but John Haeger’s North American Pinot Noir has some sections on Oregon, hardly essential but some good info in there.
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Edward Hellman’s Oregon Viticulture is very in depth, but published in 2003 so won’t give you the current state of things.
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Nothing comprehensive that I know of. But Rusty/Prince of Pinot just published a really amazing piece on all the Oregon old vine vineyards, along with tasting notes from wines produced from these 42 vineyards. It’s really an amazing piece of work— lots of orignal research and the great tasting notes bring it forward to the present.
https://www.princeofpinot.com/article/2398/
It’s quite long and I would recommend downloading the pdf (hard to find— the pdf link is found top right corner of the webpage).
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This is phenomenal. Thank you for sharing.
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It’s not Oregon only/specific, but Cole Danehower wrote Essential Wines & Wineries of the Pacific Northwest. It’s from 2010; I have a copy, but have not read it yet.
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I would just listen to the Oregon Wine History Archive Podcast. No book can consolidate the info from these interviews.
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For a blast from the past, read Wines of the Pacific Northwest 2006 Mitchell Beasley. I see it on eBay for ~$5. I like the book.
Yeah, it’s not a book, but the OPB documentary Oregon Wine: Grapes of Place is a great resource for the history. The documentary has been mentioned in previous threads, but it appears that the following books were provided as additional resources:
"Susan Sokol Blosser, At Home in the Vineyard, Cultivating a Winery, an Industry and a Life
Edited by Ted Casteel, Oregon Winegrape Grower’s Guide
Lisa Shara Hall, Wines of the Pacific Northwest
Jordan Mackay, Andrea Johnson & Robert Holmes, Passion for Pinot
Janis Miglavs, Oregon, The Taste of Wine
Paul Pintarich, The Boys Up North, Dick Erath and the early Oregon winemakers"
I enjoy watching the documentary before our annual trips to Oregon in the summer.
Hope this helps.
James
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