The Wines That Made the Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley has been evolving since the 1970s. Throughout its history, a number of wines have helped shape its identity.
The Willamette Valley had vineyards in the 1800s, but Prohibition and market forces kept it from becoming a true winemaking region until the 1960s, when rows of cool-climate grapes like pinot noir and chardonnay began to crawl across the Dundee and Tualatin Hills. A few wineries grew to more than 700 today, making the Willamette Valley a global wine sensation. Along the way, a handful of bottles helped define the valley’s distinctive character.
The Eyrie Vineyards South Block Reserve Pinot Noir
1975
Not long after David Lett founded the Eyrie Vineyards, his 1975 South Block Reserve was one of several non-French pinots to rank highly in a sort of “Wine Olympics” in Paris in 1979. French winemaker Robert Drouhin was so taken aback he called for a rematch of six of his wines against the top six foreign bottles. Lett’s came in second, beating all but one of the Drouhin entries. Suddenly, Oregon was on the map.
Domaine Drouhin Laurène Pinot Noir
1992
Impressed, Drouhin decided Oregon was the future. In the late ’80s, his French estate constructed a winery in the Dundee Hills, with Robert’s daughter Véronique as its winemaker. It was the first Burgundian estate to produce wine anywhere outside of France. In 1992, the premiere vintage of Domaine Drouhin Laurène—a lush, vibrant pinot noir made with estate-grown grapes—refashioned Oregon wine in premier cru French style.
Argyle Extended Tirage Brut
1997
Oregon wines didn’t tend to fizz until 1987, when Texan winemaker Rollin Soles and Australian wine legend Brian Croser decided the valley’s climate and soil were perfect for bubbly and founded Argyle Winery in Dundee. Two decades later, Wine Spectator caught on, and included Argyle’s 1997 extended tirage brut in its global list of the world’s top 100 wines—a first for an Oregon sparkler, which put the WV in conversation with Champagne.
Penner-Ash Wine Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
1998
Defying convention, Lynn Penner-Ash became the one of the first women winemakers in the valley, heading up Rex Hill Winery in the ’90s before she and husband Ron launched the namesake label. With its distinctly elegant balance of earthy complexity and fresh fruit, her inaugural 1998 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir stood—and continues to stand—among the region’s finest and helped to begin a (still ongoing) shift in gendered norms of viticulture.
Day Wines Tears of Vulcan
2016
In the contemporary age of renegade winemaking, few are more influential than Brianne Day, a trailblazer for a new generation making odd varietal blends, orange wines, and pét-nats. Day’s Tears of Vulcan, an orange stunner first released in 2016, is an exemplar of skin-contact blends. Full of spice, savory notes, and vivid acid, it proves the valley holds far more than pinot noir and chardonnay.
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