slides: Great Oregon Wine Outside the Willamette Valley

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Carrie Wynkoop, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Is there good Oregon wine outside the Willamette Valley? You bet there is!

Every month at Cellar 503 we celebrate the wide geographic diversity of wine in Oregon. But this month, we’re highlighting wines that are particularly “off the beaten path” and way outside the Willamette Valley. These are unique wines from unique places – places that will be wonderful to explore when you get the chance.

See Slideshow Below: Great Oregon Wineries Outside the Willamette Valley

Two of our featured wineries, Watermill Winery and Don Carlo are located in Oregon’s newest AVA – The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. It’s a long name for a tiny place; a corner of Eastern Oregon that falls exclusively on the Oregon side within the renowned Walla Walla AVA. Why is it called “The Rocks”? Because the vineyards are chock full of big rocks that bake all day in the sun and keep the roots warm during the cold nights – making for some unusual wine flavors.

You’ve had Chardonnay before, but Don Carlo’s comes with a minerality that is striking and so demonstrative of the rocks it grew through. Even many experienced wine consumers haven’t heard of Mourvèdre, much less tasted this gorgeous, deep rich fruity red from Watermill.

Our third featured winery, Bradley, hails from Elkton, Oregon. The Elkton AVA is in the Coast Range between Eugene and the Oregon Coast. There are just a few hardy souls working this beautiful valley, but the cool, coastal air produces wines that take your breath away – including Bradley’s Pinot Noir, which is unlike anything you’ll taste in the Willamette Valley.

And our fourth winery, Viento, comes from the gorgeous rolling hills of the Columbia Gorge – an area that Maxim magazine’s Emily Siegel recently called “America’s hottest wine region”. Viento first planted their estate Riesling in 1981, and it’s from the vineyard that our featured dry Riesling comes. If there’s one thing I want you to learn about Oregon’s dry Rieslings, it’s this – these are not your grandmother’s syrupy Rieslings, they’re dry, crisp, and fabulous.

Each of these wines represents a taste of Oregon in a bottle. The next time you get a chance to explore Oregon, I hope I’ve inspired you to explore some regions off the beaten path!

Carrie Wynkoop is the founder of Cellar 503, a new wine club featuring unique, high quality, affordable wines that represent the full range of great Oregon wine. Cellar 503 is for anyone who loves Oregon wine and wants to explore.

Related Slideshow: Great Oregon Wineries Outside the Willamette Valley

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Watermill Winery

The orchards around Milton-Freewater produce some of the best apples in the world. Over the last several decades, the Brown family has developed a reputation for producing some of the highest-quality fruit in the region. And their Blue Mountain Cider Company is renowned for its hard ciders. Andrew Brown is the second-generation winemaker (and cidermaker) leading the way. Whether it’s the classic

Bordeaux blends or single-varietal wines like Mourvèdre and Petit Verdot, Watermill’s wines are a showcase for the Milton-Freewater area.

Watermill Winery
2011 Mourvèdre
Columbia Valley

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Don Carlo Vineyard

Lori Kennedy grew up making wine with her grandfather, Carlo. An Italian immigrant in

Seattle, Carlo had grapes sent by train every year from Lodi, California. With young Lori beside him, he made wine to last the family all year long. Named in honor of Lori’s grandfather, Don Carlo wines are among the finest examples of what we’re going to get from the new Rocks AVA.

Don Carlo Vineyard
2012 Estate Chardonnay
Walla Walla Valley

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Bradley Vineyards

Elkton is a small town (population: 194) at the north end of the Umpqua Valley. Situated between Eugene and the Oregon Coast, it’s colder and wetter than much of the Umpqua. And it’s for that reason that, in 2013, the Elkton AVA was recognized.

John Bradley planted his first grapes in 1983 but didn’t produce his own wine until 2003, when a winery refused to take delivery of a truckload of Pinot Noir. Bradley called the winemakers at River’s Edge (for whom he had managed the vineyard) and they collaborated right then to make the first Bradley Pinot Noir. Last year, John passed away unexpectedly at age 65. Today, the Bradley label is still going strong, producing wines under the leadership of his wife, Bonnie, and their two adult children, Tyler and Rachel.

Bradley Vineyards
2010 Pinot Noir
Elkton

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Viento Wines

Winemaker Rich Cushman is a Hood River native, and after studying viticulture at UC

Davis and apprenticing in Germany, he decided that he was “a Hood River boy” and turned down job offers that would take him out of Oregon.

While in Germany, Cushman fell in love with Riesling and in 1981, he planted his first vines – still growing strong right next door to the Viento tasting room. As he says, “The vines are now getting old and gnarly but are producing wonderful quality fruit.” And that makes Viento Wines an excellent sample of what you’ll find in and around Hood River.

Viento Wines
2011 Dry Riesling
Columbia Gorge