Discover the Wines of the American Pacific Northwest

It is late summer in wine country of the American Pacific Northwest. The grapes are beginning to ripen and the valleys will come alive as the fall harvest nears. Many of the winemakers here are craftsmen, producing wines that reflect their individualism and the character of their land. Life in this area revolves around the wineries. Here at Willamette Valley Vineyards, guests arrive and the celebration begins. Inside the winery, the air is cool and rich with aroma. A marriage of ripe fruit and moist oak as a new vintage sees the light of day. This is a relatively young region but it's one that has captured the imagination of wine lovers around the world. It's been more than a decade since the Pacific Northwest region of the United States has become prominent on a world stage. It's tempting for many people to look at the Pacific Northwest as a single homogeneous climate zone, but the states of Oregon and Washington could not be more distinct. In this episode, we'll travel through Oregon's cool climate grape growing regions, famous for elegant Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay. Then we'll move to the desert of eastern Washington where full-bodied Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah thrive. The state of Oregon is divided into five wine producing regions. Our journey begins in the small town of McMinnville. Every year, this quiet town plays host to the international Pinot Noir celebration, an event that brings winemakers here from around the world. But the town's most famous landmark can be found right on the main street, Nick's Italian Cafe. Nick's has been the unofficial meeting place for Oregon's wine industry players for almost 25 years. We came here to meet three of the industry's pioneers, the men responsible for bringing Pinot Noir to Oregon and establishing it as the state's signature grape. David Lett, Dick Ponzi, and Dick Erath. What was your motivation to come to Oregon and plant Pinot Noir? When I was going to UC Davis, I took a degree in viticulture there. Again, the growing aspect of it. One of my professors one day said, there's no climate in California cool enough for Pinot Noir. And by that time, I had discovered Pinot Noir by having a key to the cellar at Davis and also taking classes and so on. And that's what brought me up here initially. I mean, we all came from somewhere else to come here to plant Pinot Noir. We didn't look out of our window one morning and say there's 40 acres out back where we're doing it. Plus, you know, 30 years ago, Chardonnays were very popular varieties and the Cabernets were popular. No one heard of Pinot Noir. You have to understand the times. It was the 1960s, and even the California wine industry was in its infancy. And every supposed authority on the subject tried to dissuade these pioneers from planting vinifera, especially from planting the finicky Pinot Noir variety. But by 1979, the dreams of the infant Oregon wine industry were vindicated. Both David Lett and Dick Erath stunned the world wine establishment by outscoring in international competition, many of the finest offerings from Burgundy. In one fell swoop, the honors served to validate both Oregon as a wine region and the pioneers' love affair with Pinot Noir. I'll tell you, Cabernet is planted probably, what would you say, 500 times more Cabernet planted in the world than there is, maybe a thousand times more, because it'll grow anywhere. And it essentially has a varietal profile that's defined. Cabernet grown in Lubbock, Texas smells like Cabernet grown in Australia or the Napa Valley or on the left bank of the Giron River. Pinot Noir defines itself at every single location where it's planted. You go to Bordeaux, you could ripen Pinot Noir in Bordeaux every year, no sweat. But the grapes will never reach their pinnacles of varietal character. And that's what we have here, the capability to do that with Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir, it seems to do best when it's planted in marginal climates like Burgundy. Burgundy is a province in eastern France and has cold winters and really cool summers. That's essential for growing these vines. And when everything clicks, these vines produce fruit that can make wines of amazing complexity and finesse. We wanted to see firsthand what makes up a typical winery here in Oregon. The Willamette Valley is almost entirely made up of small boutique producers, each hand crafting a personal vision of Pinot Noir. Amity Vineyards would be easy to miss. Founded in 1974, the entire operation is still housed in a single barn. Owner and winemaker Myron Redford spoke to us about the valley's unique terroir and his abiding love for what is known as the heartbreak grape, Pinot Noir. One of my colleagues said that Cabernet is the wine for bankers and accountants, and Pinot Noir is the wine for lovers. And I think that's true, because I think we get more passionate about Pinot Noir than people, than my colleagues who make other grapes. They get excited, but we get passionate. I just fell in love with Pinot Noir, of all the grapes I had tried. And when you get it on, there's nothing like it. I mean, when it's really on, it's a feminine, masculine grape. I mean, it can have structure like a masculine wine, or it can be, not have structure, but the perfume and the complexity and the elegance, it's just, when it's on, it's just so wonderful. Generally, from Oregon Pinot Noir, you will have wines that are similar to Burgundy, in that they're lighter and more delicate than Pinot Noir grown in warmer climates. They have usually good acidity, and Oregon Pinot Noirs seem to be fruit-driven, and that's either the preference or the lack of preference of the consumer. Some people don't like that fruit-driven character, and they like the more earthy character of Burgundy. Myron has kept his winery small by design, with just a few hands performing all functions, much like it must have been in old Burgundy. However, despite his respect for tradition, Myron has a few ideas of his own, which separate him from his peers. Myron, this barrel room is rather unique for a winery, and it looks like there's not a lot of new wood. Why is that? Michael, I'm kind of an odd duck in the industry, in that I don't like the flavor of new wood in wines, and I just decided in 1988 to stop using any new oak, and I've devoted the rest of my winemaking career to showing people how you can make great wines without using new oak. I like the quote from Louis Martini. Louis Martini said, I want to taste the place where the grapes were grown, rather than the container in which they were aged, and if I want oak, I'll chew on a two-by-four. Oak, when it's used right, gives a sweetness to the wines, it gives a smokiness to the wines, and it gives some body to the wines. I am sort of like somebody, a steak person. I like my steak without much sauce on it. I like the flavor of the steak. Other people prefer steaks with lots of sauce, and I guess that would be a good comparison for you. What we are seeing here at the Argyle Winery is also Pinot Noir, but Pinot Noir in another of its traditional styles is an essential ingredient in the making of sparkling wine. Roland Soles was working for the Petaluma Winery in Australia when the idea to take advantage of Oregon's rising reputation as a premier producer of Pinot Noir came to him. I believe that Oregon is the new world site for making sparkling wine, and you can ask yourself, why is that? We harvest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at the end of the growing season. Most new world areas would be harvesting in the equivalent of July and August. We're in October and November, but what that means is we get ripe apple, pear, plum flavors, and we get great acid structure, and we can pick at that point where it's not green apple and the point where it's not strawberry like in Pinot Noir. It's apple and plum in Pinot Noir, and that's what makes the best sparkling wine. Argyle also excels at producing another variety found in sparkling wine, Chardonnay. Right now we pretty much rule the northwest in fine Chardonnay production. I think that's mainly because we started out making sparkling wine. Making sparkling wine makes you have to taste the flavors in the vineyard because there's a point in making sparkling wine where the fruit flavors get too ripe. With Chardonnay, you don't want it way too ripe, but you want it obviously riper than sparkling wine. So there's this little window of opportunity to pick the best Chardonnay. Argyle was the first North American winery to import smaller cluster clones of Chardonnay from Burgundy, which ripen at the same time as the region's Pinot Noir. Unlike the Chardonnay from neighboring California, which suggest flavors of pineapple, Argyle suggests more ripe melon and pear flavor. That's really exciting to me because the best Burgundies I've ever tried had ripe melon and pear, and I was always wondering how do they do that? Well, it turns out it's clone and getting in tune with your vineyard and picking it at the right time. Many of the wineries here are boutique producers, but one man had a grander vision. Ed King Jr. came to Oregon in 1990 and created the state's largest integrated wine business almost overnight. From developing a culinary program all the way back to operating their own nursery, drafting rootstocks to propagate new grape vines, King Estate goes to extraordinary lengths to enhance the wine experience. King Estate has moved beyond the production of traditional Burgundian varieties and has established itself nationally as a leader in Pinot Gris production. Steve Thompson explained to us some of the particular properties of the grape and why it's such an important part of their portfolio. Now, some people refer to Pinot Gris as sort of a white wine in drag. What are your thoughts on that? Well, Michael, Pinot Gris, that's a great observation. I love to use that because Pinot Gris is just a slight color mutation of Pinot Noir. Essentially, it is a red wine wannabe. It's red wine in a white wine package, and I think where you really see that especially is in the viscosity of it. Pinot Gris has the texture of a red wine as it starts to really open up and warm up. There's essentially two different models, the Italian Pinot Grigio model, which a lot of consumers are familiar with. It tends to be a lighter, lower acid wine and usually a lot more affordable than the other end of the extreme, which is the Alsace model. It's a big rich, but it's usually a very low production model. We want to be somewhere in the middle because we feel that a Pinot Gris that we can produce here in that particular style really appeals to the wine consumer. Pinot Gris is the one white wine that you can enjoy through the entire dining experience. We recognized early on that it was a great grape to grow here on this estate. It was a grape that we could be a leader, a pioneer in this country with, and that is becoming the case. This is Domaine Drouin, Oregon, the American branch of the venerable old Burgundian house Joseph Drouin. It is among the most beautiful wineries in the region. Today the winery in France is operated by Robert Drouin, and his daughter Véronique is the winemaker for their new Oregon property. Michael, welcome to Domaine Drouin. Wow, what a place. Here we are. When was this built? The winery was built just barely in time for crush in 1989. The roof was barely on it when the fruits started coming in. The vineyards were planted starting in 1988. What encouraged Drouin to set up operation in Oregon? I think initially it was the early wines that the pioneers were making up here at Eyrie and Ponzi and Arath. They thought they showed a lot of promise and felt that a great Pinot Noir could be made outside of Burgundy, and this was the place to do it. The vines here are planted very close together. It's commonly known as high-density planting. This is in line with the Burgundian principle that the roots of the vine should fight each other for nourishment from the soil. Here we see the grapes have reached veraison, a term which means the color is starting to turn, indicating the grapes will be ready for harvest in about 30 days. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Oregon wine is the relative scarcity on the world market. Today there are approximately 10,000 acres under vine. To put this into perspective, the entire industry in Oregon is equal to the size of one mid-sized California winery. However, this is changing. It is estimated that there is the potential for 100,000 acres of quality vineyards here in the future. We're leaving Oregon now, traveling north in search of the wine country of Washington state. The Columbia is one of the world's great rivers, and it separates these two states. It's easy to understand why most people think of Washington as a wet fertile region with a lot of greenery and vegetation, but the Cascade Mountains divide the state into two distinct climate zones. Although there is a wine region in the west called Puget Sound, we've come to discover the desert region of east Washington state. As we venture further east, the land starts to flatten out, the trees thin, and disappear entirely. This is the desert of eastern Washington, and it's in this part of the state that 98 percent of the grapes are grown. Generally the area is called the Columbia Valley, but it's divided into four distinct districts, Columbia, Walla Walla, Yakima, and Red Mountain. As you can see, desert grass grows in abundance, but if you want to plant grapes here, irrigation is a must. Bordeaux grape varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, demand fierce summer conditions, requiring long hours of sunlight as well as intense heat to ripen the grapes sufficiently. Washington has the weather, but the problem has always been adequate irrigation during the hot summer months. The Columbia Crest Winery, Washington state's biggest producer, draws its water from the river. We spoke to Doug Gore, Columbia Crest resident winemaker, about the We focus on a lot of different types of wine here. We do have some Bordeaux style wines, we have some Burgundy style wines, and we have Germanic Riesling style wines. So what's your production at Columbia Crest? Columbia Crest production is quite large. It's up to about one and a half million cases. Never thought I'd work for a winery this size before, but it's worked very well. Where we're standing here is what we call our petite shade, and I refer to it as our winery within a winery. I have found that the only way to make the best of the best is to cordon off an area. I only have a few people working it, and it's a really small lot in winemaking. So this is where we make the Bordeaux blend, if you will. Doug took me on a tour of their vineyards. With an operation this size, it's impossible to simply walk out into the vineyards as we've done in Oregon. These plantings stretch out for miles, and ATVs are the best way to travel. We've just undergone tremendous growth, probably 20-25 percent additional grape plantings in the past four or five years. We've taken all the knowledge we've had up until that time and applied it to these new sites. So we're not struggling with maybe the wrong variety in the wrong location. We now have the right variety, the right location, the right kind of irrigation, and it's very exciting. As good as our wines have been, they're going to get even better with all these new plantings that are coming into production. The Washington wine industry may have been built on a reputation for bulk wine production, but in recent years, with a better understanding of the region and a focus to planting the right varietals in the best locations, things have changed. Tom Hedges has been a success in both camps, and he offers a unique perspective on the industry today. Tom Hedges entered into the wine industry as a commodities broker who shipped Washington wine in bulk to the Swedish alcohol monopoly. The wine, called Hedges for want of a better name, was a hit, and a full-time winery was born with the help of his wife Anne-Marie. The growing region here is really excellent for growing the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot, a little bit of Cabernet Franc as well. In fact, every time we go to Europe, they tell us we are very lucky because we get the sun, and we don't have to worry about the rain. Fortunately, grapes for the amount of produce, by the ton, but especially by the dollar value, they use very little water. And as you can see in our vineyard, we use the drip system, which is extremely economical, but you've still got to have enough water. And since there's no water here, it's got to be brought in either from wells, which is what we use, deep wells, 700 feet, 800 feet down, or from a pipe coming from a river. In 1989, Hedges Cellars made its first wines from purchased grapes, and by 1995, with their own vineyards in production, made 60,000 cases at Red Mountain. Red Mountain has been known for red grapes, and essentially these are mountain-style grapes, which means they're a little smaller, the skins are a little thicker, the alcohol comes out higher, the grapes have a bit more tannin to deal with, and they usually age very, very well. Hedges Cellars has built an outstanding reputation by specializing in just a few styles, Red Mountain Reserve, Cabernet Merlot, and Fumé Chardonnay. Walla Walla means place of the rye grass, named after the tall prairie grasses that once covered this river valley. The town of Walla Walla is the valley's main community center. Here you'll find a vibrant stretch of restaurants, galleries, and of course, many of the winery's tasting rooms. It's also a good place to sample some of Washington's finest varietals. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon have dominated red wine production in Washington, but in recent years that landscape's been changing, as raw varietals such as Grenache and Syrah are being introduced. The Cayuse Winery was founded by Christophe Baron in 1996. Christophe's family owns a small champagne house in the Marne Valley in France, where they've been growing grapes since the 17th century. I asked Christophe what made him abandon the family business in France and move to the Walla Walla Valley to produce his wines. I like the sense of freedom, I like the sense of liberty, and here you can do whatever you want in order to handcraft a great wine. In order to make the best possible wine, vines need to struggle, so therefore you have to find unhospitable, very low in nutrients type of soil. The roots which actually drive the roots to go very very deep, that's where quality starts, in very poor soil. And you know, right now we are like August the 21st, you can see we are, we went through all Verizon, it's beautiful, we are probably like two or three, probably like three weeks away from from harvest. The berries taste probably like 17, 18 bricks at the moment. We usually like to pick around 24 and a half or 25 bricks, you know, but usually the picking date is based on, you know, on taste. Now what grape varieties do best in these conditions? Well, usually grown varieties, like Syrah for instance. Why? Because Syrah is very very hard to control, vigor-wise. It just wants to grow and grow. In order to control the vigor, Syrah needs to be planted in very poor soil. This is a terroir for Syrah. While working at another Washington winery, Christophe noticed an orchard covered with large river stones. The soil reminded him of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region in France, and he knew this could be a little piece of the Rhone Valley in the Pacific Northwest. And you can look at the soil, you know, that this is just beautiful. For the first 16 to 18 inches, you know, take some soil in your hand. This is pure, I mean, a nice mix of cobble, pebble, and silty loam. And from that area down to under 200 feet, who knows, you know, this is pure stone. This is incredible, beautiful drainage. This is just amazing. Taste the soil. I mean, it tastes great, you know, this is wonderful. Christophe's dirt is dry, stony, well-balanced, but I think I prefer his Syrah. The city of Seattle is the hub of the Pacific Northwest, and many of its lifestyle trends have spread across the continent. The food culture here is eclectic, focusing on regional specialties like fresh seafood and local produce often fused with Asian flavors. The wines of the region have also gained favor as the preferred spice that brings it all together. It's not just the locals who are enjoying these wines. This is the annual auction of Washington wines held at Chateau Saint-Michel. It's the social event of the season, and one that attracts wine enthusiasts from around the world. This auction is the second largest of its kind in the country and raises money for Children's Hospital in Seattle. The event also serves to establish the values that people are placing on Washington's finest vintages, and they're considerable. Give me a $17,000 bid. Last $17,000 now. He's back $18,000 now. During the evening, some of the industry's leading producers shared their feelings on the future of the wine industry in Washington. The changes in Washington over the last 25 years have been monumental. Growing from this little spot on the viticultural map, today Washington is the second largest grower of the classic grape varieties in the United States after California, and more importantly, maybe, it's perceived as a quality producer. Quality, I think, is probably the most important. We really produce world-class wines here, but beyond that, the scope of the industry in the time I've been here has gone from 18 wineries to about 165. What's encouraging, I think, is to see what's happening to the north of us in British Columbia, because there also there's a huge revolution in progress and some tremendous wines being made, so we view them as being an equal partner in the exploration and the evolution of the Pacific Northwest. The wine industry of the Pacific Northwest has certainly come a long way in recent years. The wine regions of Oregon and Washington continue to evolve as new growing areas are defined, and the attention to planting the best varietals in the right terroir is certainly apparent. It's impressive to see how the grape growers and the winemakers have tackled the challenges of nature to produce quality wines, and the true testament to their success, well, it can be found in every glass. We hope you've enjoyed this episode on the wines of the American Pacific Northwest, and we'd like to hear your comments and ideas for future segments. Our email address is discover at lcbo.com. Until next time.