Rusty Gaffney writes about Oregon\u27s Willamette Valley and its Pinot Noir in this article from his  Prince of Pinot  blog, volume 7, issue 23. A brief overview of how Pinot Noir clones came to the Willamette Valley and the the French winemakers who moved to the region in the 1980s follows. Gaffney also compares and contrasts Oregon Pinot Noir with French Burgundy

Gaffney, William  Rusty

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Along the Oregon Pinot Trail

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Linfield College DigitalCommons@Linfield William “Rusty” Gaffney (Prince of Pinot) Collection Oregon Wine History Archive – Oregon Collection 8-17-2009 Along the Oregon Pinot Trail William "Rusty" Gaffney Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/owha_gaffney  Part of the Viticulture and Oenology Commons Recommended Citation Gaffney, William "Rusty", "Along the Oregon Pinot Trail" (2009). William “Rusty” Gaffney (Prince of Pinot) Collection. Article. Submission 14. https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/owha_gaffney/14 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It is brought to you for free via open access, courtesy of DigitalCommons@Linfield, with permission from the rights-holder(s). Your use of this Article must comply with the Terms of Use for material posted in DigitalCommons@Linfield, or with other stated terms (such as a Creative Commons license) indicated in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, or if you have questions about permitted uses, please contact digitalcommons@linfield.edu. princeofpinot.com http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/735/Along the Oregon Pinot TrailOregon’s Willamette Valley has the most in common with Burgundy than any North American wine growingregion. Some have called the Willamette Valley, “Burgundy of the West.” The midpoint of the WillametteValley lies at 45 degrees north latitude, the same as for Burgundy’s Cote d’Or. Vintages in Oregon tend toparallel those in Burgundy. Oregon wineries have always been small, family owned affairs, just like inBurgundy. The Dijon clones of Pinot Noir were first brought into this country by workers at Oregon StateUniversity who had a close working relationship with the Burgundians. Reidel makes a distinctive Pinot Noirglass for Burgundy and Oregon. Oregon’s wine culture has always embraced Burgundian influence and is largely responsible for Oregon’ssuccess. The first winegrowers who came to the Willamette Valley in the 1960s and 1970s were not onlydeterred by the unaffordable land prices in California at the time, but also by California winemaking whichused pumps, filters and technology suitable for Cabernet Sauvignon, but undesirable for Pinot Noir. In beingamong the first to embrace exclusive use of French oak barrels in the New World, it was only natural thatOregonians looked to Burgundy for guidance.By 1981, Oregon had begun its annual Steamboat Conference with the original intention of sharinginformation between winemakers from Oregon and California. It was the Burgundians who began attendingthis event that created the most impression on Oregon winemakers. Robert Drouhin of Domaine Drouhin inBeaune, France, had visited Oregon in the 1970s, and in 1987, bought 180 acres in the Dundee Hills.Named Domaine Drouhin Oregon, this French-inspired winery brought vindication and notoriety to theOregon wine industry and helped to foster a long-standing interchange between Oregonians andBurgundians. Véronique Drouhin-Boss has been the winemaker at Domaine Drouhin Oregon since itsinception and was one of the first French-born winemakers in Oregon. Many others have followed suite,including Laurent Montalieu (WillaKenzie, Soléna Cellars), Jacques Tardy (Torii Mor), and Isabelle Dutartre(DePonte Cellars). Most recently, world-renowned Burgundian winemaker, Dominique Lafon of Meursault,chose Oregon for his New World winemaking consultancy project, The Evening Lands Vineyards, whosestateside winemaker is Frenchwoman, Isabelle Meunier.The question that is often posed after considering all this French influence and camaraderie, do Pinot Noirsfrom the Willamette Valley resemble or even mirror their brethren from Burgundy? Well, yes and no. Thebest Oregon Pinot Noirs can and do approximate the quality of many French bourgogne, village and premiercru level wines. There are enough differences between the two regions, however, to insure that the winesare distinct. The terroir is disparate among the two winegrowing regions, with the Cote d’Or possessinglimestoneladen soils while Oregon’s soils are basaltic, sedimentary or loess in type with little underlainlimestone. Rain is not unusual in the summer in Burgundy, but infrequent in the Willamette Valley. Burgundyvineyards are a clonal mix known as selection massale, while Oregon vineyards are composed of distinctblocks of separate clones and lack the age of Burgundian vineyards. Burgundy vineyards cannot beirrigated, while many of Oregon’s vineyards receive a drink of water occasionally toward the end of thegrowing season. Oregon vineyards tend to have wide spacing of vines in contradistinction to the high-density plantings in Burgundy.It makes little sense to spend time comparing Oregon Pinot Noir and red Burgundy. We should celebrateeach for what it is, not for what it isn’t. If a distinction must be made, this quote by Paul White best sums itup: “The Old World prizes structure and texture over fruit, with a liking for subtle, savory, gamy (at timesbordering on filth), earthy characters, whereas New World wine is mostly about fruit.” Jay McInerny put itanother way, “Take Pinot Noir to the New World and it often goes native in an alarming way, shedding itsGallic intellectual vigor and displaying a fruity, flirty New World hedonism.”I have digressed. I spent a marvelous week before the recent International Pinot Noir Celebration travelingthe back roads of Pinot country in the Willamette Valley. I met and renewed friendships with many hardworking and passionate winegrowers and I tasted some stunning Pinot Noirs from both the 2007 and 2008(mostly from barrels) vintages. There is a unique sense of freedom and pioneering spirit that comes withdriving the picturesque unpaved roads of wine country to find a small, artisan producer of Pinot Noir. In thefollowing pages, I will review my most memorable visits and wines. I urge you to followup these reports withyour support, seek out these wines, and pay a visit to these producers. Remember, wines represent peopleand place and your enjoyment of drinking wine will be greatly enhanced when you look beyond the wine toembrace who crafted the wine and where it originated.

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Along the Oregon Pinot Trail

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