Pinot Noir pioneer David Lett died last week at his home in Dundee, Oregon, at the age of 69.
To have been first is notable, but to have been right is even more impressive. Lett – who died on 10 October of heart failure – was both.
He was the first to plant both Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris in Oregon, which have since become the state's pre-eminent winegrape varieties.
The UC Davis graduate headed north to Oregon with his wife, Diana, seeking a climate similar to Burgundy, and established The Eyrie Vineyard in Oregon's Willamette Valley in 1965.
Lett's intent, as he explained in an interview with this correspondent several years ago, was 'to grow the grapes in a place where they would just barely ripen in the best vintages.'
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