An in-depth view of the Willamette Valley and its wines from the perspective of the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference

What do strawberry shortcake, old fabric mills, air & space museums, wiking and scorching heat have in common? All were happening this past weekend in Portland and the Willamette Valley for the Wine Bloggers Conference2012. The Oregon wine community laid it on the line for a bunch of crazy wine bloggers and were truly able to highlight what makes Oregon wine, and pinot noir in particular, something unique and special.

Almost immediately after disembarking the plane, I joined a small group hosted by Travel Salem on a “pre-conference excursion,” which promised us both wine and cultural activity. The wine end of things featured vineyard visits to Johan Vineyards and Left Coast Cellars, just outside of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA in an area they are calling “Perrydale Hills,” potentially a new Willamette Valley sub-AVA.

According to Johan’s owner Dag Johan Sundby and winemaker Daniel Rinke, what makes this area unique from the neighboring AVA is its access to the cooling breezes of the Van Duzer corridor, coupled with the sedimentary soils of Helvetia and Santiam. The hallmarks of Johan include biodynamic farming in the vineyards and terroir-driven winemaking practices. At Johan I tasted beautifully bright gruner-veltliner; crisp and rich chardonnay fermented in concrete and aged in barrel; complex skin-macerated orange pinot gris; and of course balanced and elegant pinot noir. It was an impressive introduction to these wines. (Click toread notes on these wines).

The walk over to Left Coast Cellars took us through the vineyards on both estates. Even in the toasty heat (the visit encompassed three unseasonably hot days by Willamette Valley standards), you felt the cool breeze of the Van Duzer corridor. Left Coast Cellars’ wines are 100% estate grown with sustainable and organic farming practices. The style of the wines is slightly more “new world” than Johan, still showing grace, balance and character. I thought a wine such as their 2007 Left Coast Cellars Pinot Noir  Latitude 45 was a wonderful showcase for their estate, and represented excellent value with pricing in the $30 range. (Click to read notes on these wines).

Day 2 of the Salem excursion included visits to the venerable Willamette Valley Vineyards, where we learned about their volcanic basalt soils at the estate and toured and tasted in the cellar. I was most impressed by their single vineyard pinot noir, made in somewhat of a polished style but with impressive breadth and depth. On the way out we saw author Rex Pickett of Sideways fame preparing a signing for his new book Vertical, the next chapter in the story of dysfunctional oenophiles Miles and Jack who are stuck perpetually in adult-adolescence. Incidentally, Pickett delivered a caustic and bombastic Saturday keynote address at the conference about which I’m certain much was tweeted (as was everything else at the conference). (Click to read notes on these wines).

We were then shuttled to Piluso Vineyards, literally a mom and pop wine operation stationed in a farm house with a vineyard in the front yard. The location is on the sparse eastern side of the Willamette Valley. Here you might see tempranillo, viognier, müller-thurgau, riesling and pinot noir planted in rows right next to each other. I found it to be rather unusual to see pinot and tempranillo in the same vineyard, but by this time I had consumed a fair amount of wine so I was just going with it! The Piluso’s were charming people with a wide variety of good wines that were fairly priced. Incidentally, their estate pinot noir has garnered some nice praise from The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator. Not bad for the humble Piluso’s! (Click to read notes on these wines).

Outside of wine, we learned that you can waterslide and see the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Air & SpaceMuseum, and about the history of mill-working in Salem at the Willamette Valley Heritage Center. These were nice diversions. The last stop of this excursion was at EZ Orchards, where Kevin Zielinski is making a méthode traditionelle sparkling cider. Don’t think sweetness here; this is dry and crisp with a nice toasty complexity. Their fresh strawberry shortcake wasn’t bad either.

A second trip down into the valley was made during the conference. We boarded a mystery bus and headed out to parts unknown. Where we ended up was at Willakenzie Estate in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. There we were greeted by five winemaker/proprietors of Yamhill-Carlton wineries: Bernard Lacroute of Willakenzie, Lynn Penner-Ash of Penner-Ash, Brian O’Donnell of Belle Pente, Adam Godlee-Campbell of Elk Cove, and Laurent Montalieu of Soléna. We were treated to a seminar in the vineyard on fruit pruning and the marine sedimentary soils featured in the AVA. We also tasted in the winery a fantastic flight of single vineyard 2010 pinot noir from each producer. Each wine was beautiful and expressive and complex, but the wine of the flight for me went to Soléna’s Domaine Danielle Laurent -- it was all that and more with serious structure. The grand finale involved “wiking” through the vineyards to the crest of a ridge with an epic panoramic view of the Willamette Valley. One could not ask for more breathtaking scenery against which to enjoy a dinner and wine. (Click to read notes on these wines).

It was great to experience the Willamette Valley in new ways and taste the wines in this context. This was my first exposure to the 2010 vintage for Oregon pinot, and it looks like a savory and complex group of wines with nice structure. The links above to the tasting notes include 64 Oregon wines tasted over the weekend. Cheers!

The inside of the Spruce Goose

Dag and Dan from Johan pouring wine in the cellar

Walking to Left Coast Cellars from Johan

Associate Winemaker Joe Wright from Left Coast Cellars

Winemaker Don Crank at Willamette Valley Vineyards

Piluso Vineyards

EZ Orchards 2010 Cidre

Laurent from Soléna Estate talking soils in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA

Adam from Elk Cove and Lynn Penner-Ash talking pruning

The walk at Willakenzie

View of the valley 

At the convention- clonal tasting of Erath pinot noir