I won't go into specifics but...

[T_Welch]

I don’t know squat about OR Pinot Gris, but have to second your advice about catching the Tedeschi Trucks Band in concert.

Yep, we saw them on 5/11 at the Fox in Oakland. Fantastic show at a great venue.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

We saw Derek with the ABB there in 09 I think. Incredible.

[T_Welch]

We saw Derek with the ABB there in 09 I think. Incredible.

With Warren Haynes? I saw that show too. Outstanding.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

We saw the Mountain Jam show that time around.

[Jay_Miller]

Yup. As much as I like PG from Marcus, Kelley and a few others, I’ve had awesome Chardonnay from a broader swath of producers at different price points. Seems like a no brained for various reasons mentioned in this thread that PG plantings finally fall back to reality while Chardonnay increases. Hell, I’d like to see it fall below Pinot Blanc as I’ve had many enjoyable bottles of OR PB that outshine PG IMO.

Ditto, I’ve had much more interesting PB than PG from Oregon.

[Karl_K]

Alto Adige as well as Alsace makes nice Pinot G.

Not saying all production from either locale is good.

[maureen_nelson]

we did the wine tourism thing this past Sunday after seeing Tedeschi-Trucks band outdoors in the rain Saturday night in Salem. If you can see this band and you enjoy RnR music or big bands drop everything to go, they are extraordinary.

Anyway on Sunday we went to three Willamette Valley wineries, board darlings and unknowns, and tasted and chatted. WV is so beautiful to visit, consistently stunning. So all three places were blowing out Pinot Gris, recent releases and older vintages. Upon longer visits, during more private conversations, all three places had either vignerons or estate owners tell me they were pulling out their Pinot Gris.

I’m not often surprised by the wine world but this was news to me.

I’ve always thought of both Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks (and their band) as blues artists, not R&R.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

ok.

[DougS]

Based on recent bottles of 1988 and 1999 Eyrie PG, that is a shame, as both were exceptional.

VERY few producers make PG in Oregon that is even comparable to Eyrie’s in quality. I don’t think it would be a shame at all if 80-90% of the wineries making it gave up.

[rfelthoven]

The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris Original Vines is good stuff.

Agreed!

[DougS]

Edited because I was thinking of Pinot Blanc.

[David_Schliecker]

I don’t know squat about OR Pinot Gris, but have to second your advice about catching the Tedeschi Trucks Band in concert.

This for me too.

[Ian_Dorin]

This has been going on for awhile as Chardonnay is on the ascent. I don’t mind PG, but i’ve Never understood why PG was the most planted white grape in OR by a large margin.

I would bet there is a sell through issue too. Shelf life on most OR PG isn’t going to be as high as Pinot or Chard, so from that stand point, probably more prudent to go with longer shelf life varietals.

I’d also be willing to bet that the land values in the Willamette are having a major effect on that as well. Chard will fetch a higher price while PG is a quick turnaround wine for producers and will never retail for what Chard will

Another possibility for sure. The demand for Chardonnay in Oregon seems to be much higher now than even 5 years ago.

Pinot Gris can still produce good quality at much higher yields than Chardonnay, so that balances it out a bit. A decent number of Napa Vintners have told me SB is far smarter to plant than Chardonnay since it can yield higher, and produce more juice per ton.

[Mike_Grammer]

Based on recent bottles of 1988 and 1999 Eyrie PG, that is a shame, as both were exceptional.

Echo, and espec. the 1988. Some of the great PG in the world is made here, Doug’s comment is likely fair, but I hope it won’t be a universal thing in Oregon that the vines get pulled.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

Anyone want lossless audio files from T-T at The Paramount in Seattle from last month just reach out.

Excellent sound.

[Brian_Glas]

This has been going on for awhile as Chardonnay is on the ascent. I don’t mind PG, but i’ve Never understood why PG was the most planted white grape in OR by a large margin.

Agreed. I am surprised it hasn’t been ripped out faster? Are these sites not good for producing Chard or Pinot Noir? I can’t think of a single producer in Oregon where I liked their Pinot Gris better than their Chard.

[Frank_Drew]

Okay, I’ll bite. Where is the one place on earth? Cheers!

I would very much hope that Jim is referring to Alsace.

Probably, but that wouldn’t give enough credit to the Germans. I’ve generally preferred Grauburgunders (the German name) to most Alsatian pinot gris, as they have more acid. Sadly, they are pretty much impossible to find here. Donnhoff makes a great one, but it’s not imported, so far as I know.

John, years ago I had a really sensational Grauburgunder Eiswein from Donnhoff.

[Rick_Allen]

I did have a glorious HA Marzen during an otherwise yeech meal in Amity.

Glad you enjoyed it!

[Eric_Sch]

The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris Original Vines is good stuff.

Agreed!

Get it while you can - the old vines aren’t doing super well. Expect a few changes moving forward. The Original Vines Pinot Noir bottling has already evolved to ‘The Eyrie’ labeling and the OVPG will see some changes in the future from what I’m told.

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

Been saying this for years and the reality of it is finally settling in. Pinot Gris outside of basically one place on earth just isn’t that amazing. It has a distinct ceiling to it and given its relative ease to grow, relative low acidity and relative early picking dates makes it an easy thing to market at a mass level and sell in quantities to airports and banquets halls. It’s inoffensive and ignorable which are two highly marketable characteristics of large production wines.

So, in Oregon it will and is becoming stratified into basically 2 (and with a nod folks like Marcus and Kelley Fox and a couple/few others, 3) distinct groups. The first is simply the volume people. Make thousands, preferably 10s of thousands of cases of it. Profit by volume. The second is the amount a winery could sell out of there tasting room from, probably, what they have planted at their Estate or some sort of tightly held vineyard. Different amounts for different wineries. But, in general, not that much. The third is the small amount of people doing something different and unique with it. Anything in between is death. Growers of it trying to sell it as fruit are finding limited buyers as only a small handful of the big boys. It’s just not a very diverse wine to sell.

I may not like this post, but it’s mostly true.

I do not think Pinot Gris in the Willamette Valley can be as profound as Chardonnay or Riesling from the Willamette Valley. But I do think there is a place for it as a great grape. It’s versatility allows for a remarkable range of very lovely expressions…in the hands of a dedicated and talented producer.

It’s a challenging grape to do well, requiring a similar commitment to detail, effort, and understanding what the grapes need in order for the wine to be special. But Pinot Gris can be beautifully crisp and linear as a dry white wine, it can be beautifully textural fermented in acacia, and I really prefer the Ramato of Pinot Gris, that both Cameron and myself are doing, to 95% of the rose produced in Oregon(I still don’t understand why we are ripping out Gris while there’s a new crappy pink wine released every day). The Rouge de Gris from Vincent and Cameron are also both very distinct and very enjoyable wines. I prefer them to most Oregon Gamay, just because they seem to have a better resonance with old world savory wines than current Willamette Valley Gamay wines are achieving(I do like WV Gamay though, just not as much).

In the end, IMO, Pinot Gris is stuck between the rock of being made by every half talented winery and big production winery in Oregon because it’s almost always drinkable and relatively few average consumers are that familiar with wines from Germany, Alto Adige, or Friuli(so there’s low bar to jump over for most producers to make one and find it salable) and the hard place of a $25 maximum price point. I appreciate Rick and Jim’s asides for my wines, Eyrie, and Kelley Fox.

The reality for me is that I make no money what-so-ever on the reserve Pinot Gris. None. It’s fermented in $2000 apiece 800L acacia foudres, aged for 18 month, being topped and treated for that time just like Pinot Noir, and sells in Oregon for $20 because that’s what Pinot Gris costs, and I don’t have the time to paddle upstream to try and get someone to pay me $35 for the wine. Plus, it’s a really nice wine from a grape that compares reasonably with Melon de Bourgogne, and Clos de Briords is $25-28, so I don’t think $35 is smart.

That said, I grafted half of the Pinot Gris at Whistling Ridge over to Chardonnay clones from Clos Electrique this spring, and I doubt anyone will mind that change.