Patricia Green
Cristom
Bethel Heights
Thomas
I have only listed 4 as my Oregon experience is still a bit limited…
Bethel Heights
Colene Clemens
McKinlay, these age effortlessly
Lots to choose from. My recent faves are - Cristom, Eyrie, Brick House, Big Table Farm and Patricia Green.
I like the Bethel heights I have had. I wish I had more experience with their old vine bottlings, especially after listening to Mimi Casteels IDTT podcast. I also would like to try and track some of her wine down! Question for you about Bethel though: their estate wine showed a pretty good amount of what I perceived as new oak… is that true across the board?
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King Estates is one of the highest volume producers in Oregon. In general, their quality did not match the volume in my opinion. YMMV.
RT
Bethel Heights has produced some of the best Pinots I’ve ever tasted from Oregon. Some definitely start out oakier than others and always better to taste before buying in quantity. Their Southeast and flat block bottlings are normally excellent.
RT
…and they are wonderful!
John, Corey is spot on here. Great recs on some terrific Pinot Noir
Paul or others, tell me more about Vincent’s wines. First time I’ve heard of them but I’m interested.
Interesting discussion with lots of great recommendations.
KJJ, what do you consider multiple wines? 2+ or more. Full disclosure, I’m a mailing list member and really enjoy (John) Thomas wines as others have mentioned, but he makes one wine. McKinlay is another great recommendation, but they make at the most four wines in any 1 vintage (WV, Estate, SS, Ladd) and sometimes only a couple per year.
With the number of great producers, it’s a little difficult and perhaps unfair for me to trim the list to 5. I’ll be glad to give you a list of 15 - 20 producers. I would suggest trying wines from each of the WV AVA’s unless you already know your favorite AVA. Some producers only have Estate wines (Brick House, Colene Clemens, etc.), but most work with multiple vineyards and AVA’s.
Perhaps a list of the 5 quintessential Oregon Pinot’s or a short list of Pinot’s representative of each AVA would be an informative and interesting topic.
James
Vincent Fritzsche has been making Pinots in the WV for over 10 years. His wines are typically elegant with a Burg leaning. Pinots are his specialty but he makes delicious Gamay too. I haven’t tried his full lineup. He’s been dialing in his style and growing his operation over the past several years. Very much worth trying and still quite affordable. He’s recently been making his wines at John Grochau cellars. John is also a super guy with affordable Pinots worth an effort to seek out. They might not be in the “5 best” but they’re knocking on the door with great QPR that shouldn’t be overlooked.
RT
I second what you said about Vincent. Excellent wines. He’s also a Berserker Day participant, although the best deals come from being on his mailing list. His fall pre-offer is taking place right now so my suggestion is to check that out because it is well worth it. I believe I’ve tried his full lineup and have never been disappointed.
James,
Multiple wines is preferably 3+ under 65. What I was hoping to avoid were the suggestions for the producer that has 9 wines at nearly $75 - 90 a pop, with a leftover cuvee. For example, Bergstrom’s single vineyard pinots and reserve wine range from $70 to $110, but they have their Cumberland Reserve for $42. Cristom’s singles are all $65, but they have the Mt. Jefferson at $35. I was hoping to find producers that have a greater concentration of very good wines at a slightly lower price point.
For a little more background, I’ve long been a fan of Oregon wines and have traveled through the region. I used to drink quite a bit of it and have plowed through any number of Bergstrom, Beaux Freres, Bethel Heights, Cristom, Adelsheim, Brick House, JK Carriere, St. Innocent, Penner Ash, Belle Pente, DDO, Evening Land wines, and a spattering of others. My dad is a wine guy too and has a big stock of Oregon pinots, but from a limited number of producers (with a heavy focus on Bergstrom and Cristom).
But after the 2008 vintage, I just kind of stopped buying. I’ve had a few again recently with my dad and really just love the aromatics. I just don’t know who is doing what nowadays and so am looking for some good producers with reasonable prices that consistently delivery really good wines.
This really sums up a lot of my thoughts. I just don’t think you can get to 5 producers that sum up Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. I have my five favorites but they’re not enough, and it’s awfully subjective. When you get to “The Five BEST producers”…too often that means who markets well, and you miss out on wines like McKinlay.
Not familiar with mckinlay, but a local shop has the base pinot for $17 so I’ll give it a shot.
SchöneTal, Claygate, Gypsy Dancer.
Disclosure: I make them, but they don’t have my signature as they’re made for the client.
That said:
Five Whole Cluster producers to try: Every one on this list has been doing this since at least 2002, whether working at a winery or at their own winery.
Cristom-Benchmark but bigger style these days
Goodfellow-my wines, but we do a good job
Kelley Fox
Biggio-Hamina
Brick House
Five Great destemmed producers:
Patricia Green-range of sites is phenomenal
Walter Scott-don’t miss these
Belle Pente
McKinlay
Evesham Wood
Five Excellent newer producers:
Vincent
Twill
Martin Woods
Timothy Malone
Violin
Five Great Producers that should have made the above list:
Johan (love these, and don’t miss the Blaufrankisch)
Crowley
Big Table Farm
Grochau(Bjornsen Vineyard)
Jay Somers new project(as he is separated from J. Christopher now)
Five GREAT old vine Vineyards to try:
Arcus-Dundee Hills
Temperance Hill-Eola-Amity Hills
Abbey Ridge-Dundee Hills(I would say Clos Electrique but it’s not under $65)
Bethel Heights Flat Block and SE Block-Eola-Amity
The trio of Patricia Green’s estate, Whistling Ridge, and Beaux Freres(not under $65)-Ribbon Ridge
Both Jim Anderson and I make the wines from 2 of the trio in Ribbon Ridge, and we post a fair amount. There’s lots of great sites in the Willamette Valley, but between the last three there is a distinct sense of place, even in the hands of three very different wineries. That said, I am very biased towards those three vineyards.
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Hi Joe,
The base WV is ok but it’s a different world from the vineyard designates and the Special Select.
In 2008 when the recession hit, Matt Kinney, owner/winemaker for McKinlay had recently bought a vineyard and was up against the wall financially. He dropped the pricing on his Willamette Valley to $15 retail to stay in business. The wine has been successful but, IMO, these days it’s solid but does not illustrate the quality of the upper tier wines. It’s a volume play, released early, and a decent drinker but not what I would recommend. If you can, ask your shop if they can get any of the upper tier wines. There’s a really solid set of Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs under $30, or even $25. But not many under $20.
Another great way to get up to speed on Oregon is the Deep Roots Coalition. It’s a group of wineries dedicated to dry farming. The website lists members, and it’s a range of very good to top producers, all of whom are making wines that, IMO, offer a little less polish and a little more soul.
Most answered your question pretty well. I will add that they are never “over made” if you will.