Wine region
Oregon
Oregon on the US west coast: Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris in the cool Willamette Valley, Burgundy as the model, stricter labelling rules than federal law.
- Vineyard area
- about 18,000 hectares, more than half in the Willamette Valley
- Main grapes
- Pinot Noir (over half the area), Pinot Gris (about an eighth), Chardonnay
- Climate
- cool and maritime: wet winters, dry, mild summers, cool nights; around 45 degrees north
- Signature wines
- Pinot Noir from the Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills and Ribbon Ridge; Pinot Gris; Chardonnay
- Milestone
- David Lett plants Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley in 1965; Domaine Drouhin Oregon in the late 1980s
Oregon lies on the Pacific coast of the United States, north of California, and has about 18,000 hectares of vines, more than all Swiss vineyards together (about 14,500 hectares). More than half of that is in the Willamette Valley, a valley south of Portland, recognised in 1983 as Oregon’s first AVA. It lies at about 45 degrees north, level with Bordeaux, and is nonetheless cool: the Coast Range shields it from the Pacific, cool sea air flows in through the gap of the Van Duzer Corridor, the winters are wet, the summers dry and mild, the nights cool. The soils are made of volcanic rock, marine sediments and loess.
Pinot Noir takes up just over half the area, Pinot Gris about an eighth; Chardonnay follows. The man behind this success was David Lett: in 1965 he planted Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley, against the advice of his professors in California, and he is also regarded as a pioneer of Pinot Gris in the United States. His 1975 Pinot Noir placed among the top ten at a wine olympics in France in 1979; in a rematch hosted by the Burgundian Robert Drouhin it came second, narrowly behind a 1959 Chambolle-Musigny. Drouhin later bought land in Oregon himself and in the late 1980s founded Domaine Drouhin Oregon in the Dundee Hills.
On the label, Oregon is stricter than federal law. A grape name requires at least 90 per cent of that variety; only a list of varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah gets by with 75 per cent, the federal limit. Anyone naming an AVA must use at least 95 per cent grapes from the area, where federal law asks for 85, and all the grapes must come from Oregon.
Oregon Pinot Noir is often a rather pale, elegant wine with red berries, cherry and forest floor and fresh acidity, closer to Burgundy than to Californian sun. Pinot Gris, usually fresh and fruity, with pear and apple, is the region’s white. For Swiss readers this is familiar: Pinot Noir is also Switzerland’s most planted variety. What to drink: Pinot Noir with grilled salmon, duck, mushrooms and sliced veal in cream sauce; Pinot Gris with fish, seafood and light vegetable dishes.