After being walloped by what he called a ‘cosmic brick’ – a lifelong love of Pinot Noir from Burgundy – David Lett embarked on a quest to see where else, if anywhere else, this fickle grape could reach the same pinnacle of quality.

His search led him to Oregon’s Willamette Valley and, in 1965, he established the region’s first plantings of Pinot Noir.

The connection between Burgundy and Pinot’s new promised land, once merely cosmic, was now concrete.

We last reported on the France-Willamette Valley connection in 2019 and, as you might expect, much has changed.

Here’s the latest, along with reviews of 10 noteworthy Oregon wines from French-owned wineries.

New French investments and appointments: Beaux Frères and Ponzi

The famous Beaux Frères winery, founded by Michael G Etzel in the 1980s, was acquired in 2017 by French firm Maisons & Domaines Henriot.

In 2022, Henriot merged with Artémis Domaines, the fine-wine hegemon behind Bordeaux first growth Château Latour and Burgundy grand cru Clos de Tart.

Big changes ensued. Mikey (Michael D) Etzel, who had taken over winemaking duties from his father in 2017, remains Beaux Frères’ CEO and technical director, but has passed the winemaker title to Evening Land alumnus Damien Lapuyade.

Don’t let the French surname fool you: Lapuyade is a strapping American, born and raised in Napa Valley.

Lapuyade revels in the resources that Artémis provides. ‘It opens the door to all these prestigious domaines that have centuries of experience farming and growing grapes and making world-class wine,’ he says.

‘The transfer of knowledge, the cross-pollination – it’s an amazing opportunity.’

Pioneering winery Ponzi Vineyards, which was acquired by Champagne Bollinger in 2021, also looks different at the top.

Jean-Baptiste (JB) Rivail, a sharp-dressed Frenchman raised in the Rhône Valley, is now CEO of the estate, which had been headed by a Ponzi family member since its founding in 1970.

Rivail, whose own family has a nearly two-century history in the wine business, arrived with Bollinger’s checkbook and license to use it.

‘The trust they put in us is just unbelievable,’ he says. Translation: What Ponzi needs, Ponzi gets.

This is a welcome change for Max Bruening, the Ponzi veteran who inherited the winemaker role from Luisa Ponzi in 2024.

‘I didn't know what CapEx was!’ he says, noting how, before Bollinger, the winery had to make tough maintenance and investment tradeoffs.

Growing resources

Now, Ponzi has a $500,000 Bucher sorting line, new stainless steel and concrete tanks, more land, and a consulting contract with Italy-based vine consultants Simonit & Sirch, who work with elites like Burgundy’s Domaine Leroy.

‘The knowledge here in Oregon has been built on great people and cross-collaboration,’ Rivail says. ‘But international investors come with things you know are working in other regions.’

Some locals welcome the outside capital. ‘It validates everything we've been working for,’ says Josh Bergström, a homegrown Oregon vintner who studied in France and is married to a Burgundian.

‘It lends gravitas to the region, to the pioneers who knew Pinot could be great here. With other beverages taking [wine’s] market share, we need families who have been around for generations on our side.’

Not everyone is enthused. 'Neutral at best' is how independent winemaker Saul Mutchnick of Championship Bottle describes the overall effect of outside money on the Willamette Valley.

Though he acknowledges the important role such investments have played in establishing the region, Mutchnick laments how small labels often lose access to prime vineyard sites when moneyed interests move in.

He cites the Koosah Vineyard (purchased by Résonance Wines, which is owned by French stalwart Louis Jadot) and Bunker Hill Vineyard (Lingua Franca/Constellation Brands) as examples.

A two-way street: Burgundy also benefits

Burgundy has long been the world’s Pinot Noir lodestar and, at one time, inexperienced Willamette Valley vintners were eager to glean any knowledge they could from their winemaking idols. But these days, the knowledge flows both ways.

‘When we travel to Burgundy now, there’s a sense of collegiality that I don’t think used to exist,’ says Lapuyade. ‘There seems to be this mutual respect, where they’re asking as many questions to Oregon winemakers on what’s working and what’s not working.’

Véronique Boss-Drouhin, head winemaker for both Domaine Drouhin Oregon and Maison Joseph Drouhin, says the family’s Burgundy team is inspired by their Willamette Valley counterparts, noting events like the annual Oregon Pinot Camp. ‘Burgundy should have done that years ago!’

For Louis Jadot, Résonance serves as a model for effective customer relations; in 2027, the winery will host a cruise through Burgundy for its clients.

Naturally, the trip will include a visit to Jadot, and Résonance winemaker Guillaume Large will be on board.

‘How you make somebody fall in love with the wines and the brand and the story isn't through leading with the sales pitch,’ says Taylor Theis, the winery’s director of consumer sales and marketing,

Oregon Chardonnay rising: New project Atomique3

Chardonnay is on a tear in the Willamette Valley, and many vintners trace its success to Dominique Lafon, who came from Burgundy in 2007 as consulting winemaker for Evening Land.

‘He started bringing some cultural practices on how to translate this terroir,’ says Mikey Etzel, showing the locals when to pick (earlier) and how much fruit to extract (less).

Atomique3, a superb Chardonnay-only Willamette Valley label launched in the 2021 vintage, bears the influence of another Burgundy legend: Meursault’s Jean-Marc Roulot.

Atomique3’s principals – Felipe Ramirez, a Chilean who earned his Master’s degree in Montpellier in the south of France, and renowned soil expert Pedro Parra – recruited Roulot to consult.

Atomique3’s four core Chardonnays are based on soil type, which will come as no surprise to anyone who knows Parra, who has built a career on soil and even authored a book about it.

Ramirez, who drives around the Willamette Valley with chunks of basalt on the dashboard of his truck, is no less obsessed.

‘The only thing that never changes is the soil,’ he says. ‘The weather changes every year, people change, decisions change. The plans change. But the soil – you need thousands of years to see those changes.’

The Hills are still hot: Résonance, Drouhin and Nicolas-Jay

In 2022, Résonance expanded to the Eola-Amity Hills, purchasing the outstanding Koosah Vineyard, a former Christmas tree farm planted with vines in 2016.

This acquisition doubled Résonance’s Chardonnay holdings, and it now bottles a single-vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the site.

The same year, Domaine Drouhin purchased Methven Family Vineyards, adding to the Eola-Amity Hills presence it established in 2013, when the family purchased Roserock Vineyard (which it has now spun into the Roserock label).

The 80-acre Methven property has 30 acres of vines, but the move was largely logistical: Methven is a 15-minute drive from Roserock, which lacks a dedicated production facility.

With an existing winery, water, power and ample space, Methven ticked all the boxes. ‘We were blessed to find this place,’ says Boss-Drouhin.

The facility is now known as Roserock North, and the winemaker there is French-born Drouhin veteran Isabelle DuTartre, Boss-Drouhin’s lifelong friend and her partner in Caballus Wines, which also makes Willamette Pinot Noir.

In the Dundee Hills, Nicolas-Jay, the partnership between Jean-Nicolas Méo and Jay Boberg, acquired a 52-acre site on the AVA’s north side in 2019.

They planted 25 acres of vines and renovated the property’s barn into a production winery and tasting room. In 2026, Noah Roberts was named production winemaker.

An Oregon wine legend bids adieu

Laurent Montalieu, who came to Oregon from Bordeaux in 1988, established himself as a juggernaut over the next three-plus decades.

In 2003, he founded NW Wine Company, the Willamette Valley’s first custom-crush facility – although he prefers the term ‘custom winegrowing,’ which he believes better captures the company’s range.

Over the years, NW Wine Company grew to encompass brands like Hyland Estates and Domaine Loubejac. In 2021, Montalieu sold it in what was the largest transaction in Oregon wine history.

He retired from NW Wine Company in 2024 but is still on the board, and French-born Anne Sery is now director of winemaking.

Montalieu also remains owner and winemaker at Soléna Estate, which he founded in 2000 and named after his daughter, Soléna Andrus Montalieu.

One day the winery will be hers, but it’s hard to imagine her father sitting idle in Oregon. Says Montalieu, ‘I will never retire from Soléna’.

10 fantastique Oregon wines with a French Connection

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By the time the Continental Congress formally approved the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776, winemaking in North America already had a relatively long and uneven history.

The earliest attempts date back to the early decades of European settlement and involved experiments with native grape species.

Typically characterised by high acidity, lower sugar levels, and distinctive flavour profiles, these native grapes produced wines markedly different from their European counterparts, prompting repeated (and often unsuccessful) attempts to establish plantings of Vitis vinifera imported from the Old World.

One of the most notable of such attempts was undertaken by Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States and passionate wine enthusiast, who planted European grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at his Monticello estate in Virginia.

Despite more than three decades of stubborn experimentation, Jefferson never succeeded in producing a reliable vintage from these vines.

Vitis vinifera’s failures in North America were long attributed to factors such as unfavourable climate, soil conditions, or poor vineyard practices, but a far more significant element at play was likely the presence of phylloxera.

This microscopic root-feeding pest native to North America that would later decimate European vineyards once inadvertently introduced there in the 19th century.

More substantial viticultural progress came with the arrival of Franciscan missionaries in the American southwest, who cultivated the Mission grape, a variety imported from Spain – via Mexico – and later identified as Listán Prieto.

This grape became the foundation of California’s early wine industry, demonstrating the region’s capacity for sustained viticulture.

Indeed, while wine production expanded across the United States, it was California that laid the groundwork for what would become the epicentre of American winemaking, driven in large part by European immigrants bringing both technical expertise and commercial ambition.

Among them were Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian who established Buena Vista in Sonoma in 1857, and German immigrant Charles Krug who founded his namesake winery in Napa Valley in 1861.

Prohibition: Time for a reset

As Europe grappled with the devastation of phylloxera towards the end of the 19th century, the United States was laying the groundwork for a constitutional alcohol ban.

Nationwide prohibition officially began in January 1920. Its impact on American wine was immediate and severe.

Most commercial wineries ceased operations altogether, bringing what had so far been a growing and increasingly ambitious industry to an abrupt halt.

Wine production, however, did not disappear entirely. Wineries such as Beaulieu Vineyard and Beringer were able to survive the dry years by producing sacramental wine for religious institutions.

At the same time, a legal loophole created a parallel informal economy centred around domestic winemaking, particularly in immigrant-heavy urban areas like New York, Chicago, and Boston.

By the time Prohibition was repealed in December 1933, only a small fraction of America’s wineries were still operational.

The industry’s entire commercial infrastructure – vineyards, distribution networks, oenological expertise, and consumer culture – had to be rebuilt almost from scratch.

California Chablis, jug wine and post-Prohibition rebirth

For much of post-Prohibition America, wine was primarily an inexpensive intoxicant, often sweet, and produced in ‘Port’ or ‘Sherry’-style expressions that bore little resemblance to their Old World counterparts.

Yet, beneath these high mass-market volumes, some producers began investing seriously in quality and in the long-term potential of American wine.

One of the most transformative moments came in 1938 with the arrival of Russian-born winemaker André Tchelistcheff at Napa’s Beaulieu Vineyard.

Widely regarded as one of the founding architects of modern Californian wine, Tchelistcheff introduced a new level of scientific rigour and technical precision to viticulture and winemaking, drawing heavily on European high standards while adapting practices to Californian conditions.

Through direct mentorship and broader industry influence, Tchelistcheff helped shape a new generation of winemakers, including figures such as Robert Mondavi, Warren Winiarski of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich of Grgich Hills, who would play defining roles in the rise of modern American wine.

Robert Mondavi, in particular, proved instrumental in reshaping the narrative surrounding Californian wine.

Rather than relying on (then common) European-inspired names such as ‘California Chablis’ or ‘Napa Burgundy’, he championed varietal labelling, placing grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay front and centre.

Mondavi also promoted wine as part of a broader cultural lifestyle connected to gastronomy, music, art, and conviviality, helping (re)position it as an aspirational product rather than a merely functional one.

By the 1970s, the United States was producing wines capable of competing with the world’s finest.

British wine merchant Steven Spurrier was sufficiently convinced of such progress that, in 1976, he organised a blind tasting in Paris pitting leading Californian wines against some of France’s most prestigious labels.

The outcome of what would become known as the Judgment of Paris stunned the audience, the jury, and the industry as a whole: Californian wines triumphed in both the white and red categories, defeating celebrated Burgundies and Bordeaux.

The tasting marked a watershed moment for American wine, securing its place on the global fine wine map and fundamentally altering international perceptions of what the country was capable of bottling.

Napa Cab and The Critics

In the years that followed this landmark moment, Californian winemaking increasingly shifted towards a style defined by power, ripeness, and opulence, producing wines marked by intense fruit concentration, elevated alcohol levels, deep extraction, and generous use of new French oak.

This evolution was strongly shaped by the rise of influential critic Robert Parker Jr, who tended to favour this bold, ripe stylistic approach, rewarding it with higher marks in his influential 100-point scoring system.

This philosophy gradually spread beyond California, in a phenomenon referred to, sometimes critically, as Parkerisation.

From Bordeaux to Tuscany and Rioja, producers increasingly embraced riper fruit, softer tannins, later harvesting, and more assertive oak regimes.

They often sought input from influential international consultants such as Michel Rolland, in pursuit of the high critic scores they felt could elevate reputation, demand, and revenues almost overnight.

As the 20th century drew to a close, the United States had entered an entirely new phase of its wine history.

No longer a country merely striving to prove its legitimacy to the global wine establishment, it had become one of the principal forces shaping its direction, aesthetics, and economic dynamics.

A multi-layered landscape

Modern American wine is a remarkably nuanced landscape, one that mirrors the equally complex history of the country itself and the multitude of cultures, migrations, and traditions that shaped its social fabric.

California continues to dominate both production volume and the premium sector, but has become far more stylistically diverse than the blockbuster Cabernet stereotype often associated with it.

Powerful Napa Cab still occupies a central place in the state’s identity, yet California today produces an extraordinary range of styles, from refined coastal Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to Mediterranean varieties such as Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan, and Vermentino.

Zinfandel (arguably America’s most emblematic grape) is also being reinterpreted in more nuanced and site-specific ways.

Meanwhile, fellow West Coast states have, over the past few decades, firmly joined the race for quality wine production.

Oregon has established itself as a leading cool-climate region, particularly for elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, while Washington State has earned acclaim for structured Cabernet Sauvignon, Rhône varieties, and vibrant Riesling.

On the East Coast, New York’s Finger Lakes region has steadily built a reputation for refined, high-acid, cool-climate wines, particularly Riesling and Cabernet Franc.

Centuries after Thomas Jefferson’s failed experiments, Virginia has also finally found its winemaking identity, acclaimed for Cabernet Franc and Viognier, grapes well suited to the state’s humid continental climate (though producers are successfully working across a wide range of styles and varieties).

Beyond these, quality wine is produced in almost every American state, from the Mediterranean varieties of Texas to the cool, fresh, and unexpectedly refined whites of Michigan.

Across the country, winemakers now express a striking diversity of approaches and philosophies, with an increasing emphasis on regional identity over homogenised stylistic consistency.

The story of American wine may have begun as a matter of trial and – significant – error, but in the span of a semiquincentennial it has morphed into a deliberate, confident, and increasingly self-assured expression of place, as diverse and expansive as the country itself.

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Set up at the Kimpton Vintage Hotel in downtown Portland, I spent two days tasting the final bottled samples from nearly every lot on offer at the upcoming Willamette Valley Wine Auction (13-14 May, 2026).

I was there in my capacity as Decanter's Acting North America Regional Editor and Napa Valley Correspondent, assigning ratings and tasting notes to the auction lots.

And I realise this might be controversial. Auction lots are special blends, often culled from a single barrel or from an assemblage of the best barrels from a single vineyard site or top fruit sources.

They are bottled in 5-10 case lots, for the auction, intended to raise money for a great cause, one that usually supports the local community.

The lot is presented, paddles fly, a winning bid is announced, and these special wines disappear onto a high-end restaurant list, a fine wine retailer's shelves, or into a private cellar.

So, why rate them? Eventually, they resurface, but with nothing much about them beyond perhaps the price it sold for at auction.

I myself have been the recipient of many auction wines, and try as I may to find information on them, I usually can’t.

So, for posterity, a reference point, and to spark some conversation around rating auction wines, below are my scores and tasting notes for the 2024 vintage bottlings offered at the 2026 Willamette Valley Wine Auction.

Initial impressions of the 2024 vintage for Willamette Valley

The 2024 growing season in the Willamette Valley was, by most accounts, close to ideal.

Slow, steady ripening with bright sunny days and highs largely in the low-to-mid 20°C (70s°F), and night time temperatures dipping to the mid-10s°C (50s°F), allowed for long hang times and retention of bright, natural acidity with complex flavour development.

A brief mid-summer heat spike nudged sugars along, ripening tannin without taxing acidity.

The result is a classic Willamette profile of crunchy, ripe, vibrant fruit, modest alcohols largely in the 12.9%-13.9% range, with high natural acidity.

The Pinot Noirs are bold with firm tannic structures, the Chardonnays are striking, tension-driven, and layered, and the sparklers are bright and focused.

As one winemaker put it, this is, ‘a vintage that collectors and wine lovers will want to secure for their cellars’.

A decade of community spirit in Willamette Valley

The auction is entering its tenth year, and Executive Director Morgen McLaughlin describes it as ‘one of the Willamette Valley's most important long-term platforms, not just an annual event’.

It has allowed producers to showcase rare, small-production, library, and collaborative wines that, as McLaughlin continues, 'may not fit into a standard tasting or sales channel, giving them a way to express what makes their vineyards, winemaking, and AVA stories distinctive’.

'Just as importantly, the Auction has reinforced the collaborative spirit of the Valley.'

Over the past decade, more than $5 million has been raised to support the Willamette Valley Wineries Association's marketing, education, and brand-building programmes.

In 2025 alone, more than 80 trade bidders from 35 states and three countries participated.

This year's two-day format reflects the auction’s maturity: Day One (‘Whimsy’) welcomes collectors and consumers for an insider's look at the 2024 vintage; Day Two (‘Wonder’) is a trade-only deep dive with producers on hand.

What struck me across two days of tasting wasn't just the quality of the wines but the positive attitude of the producers behind them.

James Frey, winemaker, proprietor of Trisaetum, and prolific artist (see The James Frey Collection), described the annual auction as evidence of Willamete Valley’s, ‘strong collegial spirit’ and the ‘great group of people who still believe a rising tide lifts all boats’.

Acid-etched purity

Frey produced a sparkling wine for the auction, as did Rollin Soles of ROCO, who has been making bubbles in the valley for four decades.

I found the Willamette sparklings vivid and laser-focused, with ultra-frothy, airy mousses.

‘After 40 years, I still believe the Willamette is the finest spot in the New World for sparkling,’ Soles told me.

‘Growing above the 45th parallel means later harvests, naturally high acidity, and grapes that retain higher protein levels, which directly aids bubble retention.’

Frey added that the ultra-cool sites where Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier struggle to ripen for still wines create ideal conditions for sparkling wine.

As for the still wines: the Pinots are gorgeously pure-fruited, often nuanced by that dusty, red volcanic mineral character drawn from the region's soils, while in the whites it creates a complexity I personally couldn't get enough of.

I'm still thinking about Bethel Heights' Swan Song Chardonnay, among my highest-scoring lots, crafted from own-rooted old Wente clone vines that also produced High Wire – former North America Editor Clive Pursehouse's only 100-point wine during his entire Decanter tenure.

When I asked winemaker Ben Casteel what made those vines and site so special, his response was deeply personal: ‘That it took my father's entire career and the first 10 years of mine to produce something special is a tremendous testament to perseverance.’

At least one more vintage – a 2025 High Wire Chardonnay – is coming before, tragically, the vines succumb to phylloxera.

A note on the scores

Full auction lot scores and tasting notes are available below. They have been marked with a score range which is mentioned in the note.

The Willamette Valley Wine Auction takes place May 13-14, 2026.

To the producers and buyers: no matter my scores, each wine here is genuinely exceptional, and I hope that comes through in the tasting notes.

Top wines from this year's Willamette Valley Wine Auction

All 50+ of Jonathan's notes on the Willamette Valley Wine Auction wines can be found here.

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A trailblazing state

While still young by the standards of the world’s great winemaking areas, here in the Willamette Valley, ‘old vine’ carries a certain gravity.

These aren’t the gnarled centenarians of European wine estates, or the head-trained vines from the late 19th century that one may find in Sonoma, California, but rare, original plantings from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

They’re vines that witnessed the improbable birth of Oregon Pinot Noir and quietly shaped the reputation upon which the Willamette Valley now trades.

The trunks are thick, many of them dripping with moss, no matter the season. The bark peels back in long strips evocative of the surrounding forests of western red cedars.

These sites are a true regional treasure, planted on their own roots, they collectively represent a proverbial thumbing of the nose at the destructive aphid-like pest phylloxera.

Names such as Lett, Coury, Erath, Maresh, Adelsheim and Ponzi, among others, helped to lay down the early roots of Oregon Pinot Noir.

A quiet dialogue with the past plays out each season in clusters that seem to hold the valley’s origin story in every small, dark berry.

This is the story of some of the Willamette Valley’s original Pinot Noir vines – a selection that goes beyond the early epicentre in the Dundee Hills and reflects the regional diversity of the valley today.

The sites whose stories are told here are home to old vines that are still producing some of the region’s most important wines.

The original vines: 1965

The first two plantings in the Willamette Valley happened in the same year and, in fact, at one point, those plots were one vineyard.

The story of the Willamette Valley’s very first vineyards reads like a riddle, as The Eyrie Vineyards’ Jason Lett – son of the Willamette’s original pioneer, David Lett – explains: ‘The date of establishment is tricky, because he planted the vines in 1965 but didn’t move them to the present location until 1966.

'So we give 1965 as the foundation of the enterprise, and the vines at Eyrie are 1965-planted, but the Eyrie Vineyard itself, in Dundee, was established in 1966.’

The other name that gets mentioned alongside David Lett’s is Charles Coury.

If Lett was the first to plant Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley (and he was), Coury was second.

Lett planted vines at a nursery site near Corvallis, southwest of Salem, on 22 February 1965, according to entries in his personal journal. And then, in April that year, he planted vines for Coury at the same nursery.

Both men then moved their vines north. Lett planted in the hills just south of the town of Dundee, and Coury planted in Forest Grove, west of Portland, at what is now David Hill Vineyards & Winery.

The story of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir began in 1965.

At Eyrie, just shy of four acres (1.6ha) of the old plantings remain, including the iconic South Block planted a couple of years later, in 1968, as well as the first commercial Pinot Gris planting in North America.

And at David Hill, 14 acres (5.6ha) of old vines are still producing, from Pinot Noir to Alsace white varieties.

Chehalem Mountain Vineyard: 1969

Dick Erath is best known for the eponymous Erath winery in the Dundee Hills.

There, he partnered with the pioneering Knudsen family in the mid-1970s, but his first vineyard was planted further to the north.

High on a shoulder of the southern edges of the Chehalem Mountains, just across the treeline from Ribbon Ridge AVA (American Viticultural Area) in the northernmost reaches of what is today’s Willamette Valley appellation, Erath planted his first foray into Oregon Pinot Noir.

In 1969, this became the third vineyard planted in the region, when so much of this extensive wooded area still felt like a long shot for fine wine.

Perhaps Erath was already thinking about elevation, exposure and the kind of marginal growing conditions that might coax nuance from the Pinot Noir variety.

The Chehalem Mountain Vineyard was put down on the steep slopes of ancient volcanic soils before notions of appellation boundaries were even conceived of here.

This is a low-yielding site, where the old, gnarled vines today offer an array of clones, from Pommard and Wädenswil to Calera and Dijon, providing a diversity of expression within the vineyard itself.

00 Wines, renowned for its Chardonnay programme (see tasting notes), has taken a particular shine to this old site, and the producer is using the fruit of all of the remaining three acres (1.2ha) of the old-vine 1969 plantings for its single-vineyard Pinot Noir.

‘Working with this heritage fruit is a true honour,’ says 00 founder Chris Hermann. ‘We ferment this Pinot Noir, 100% in Italian terracotta amphorae from Tuscany, after the berries have been destemmed by hand. The fermentation is semi-carbonic.

‘This old-vine wine is aromatic, pretty, lifted and not as concentrated as one would expect from older vines, which makes this block very special. The bunches are very small, with onyx-coloured skins, yet the resulting wine is ethereal and pretty.’

Maresh Vineyard: 1970

Perched high in the Dundee Hills, the roots of the Maresh Vineyard go all the way back to 1970, when Jim (Sr) and Loie Maresh planted vines here, at up to about 230m above the valley.

The Maresh family farm had long been established for hazelnuts and prunes, and the decision to plant grapes marked a quiet pivot toward what was then an uncertain future for wine in the region.

‘My grandparents bought this farm in 1959 with no farming experience,’ third-generation grower and winemaker Jim Maresh of Arterberry Maresh in Dundee tells me.

‘It was cherries, prunes and hazelnuts that taught them how to farm. The story they liked to tell was that they were sitting on 200 tons of unsold prunes when Dick Erath came up the driveway.’

Erath told them their property was perfect for Pinot Noir – his earnestness and all those unsold prunes made the choice easy.

‘They jumped right in with a small plot of Pinot Noir at his suggestion in 1970. The fruit did well, and over time a block of fruit trees or hazelnuts would be pulled out, and more vines would be planted.’

Farming at that elevation brought its own challenges: cooler temperatures, exposure to wind and a growing season that demanded adaptability.

But those same conditions would prove critical in shaping the vineyard’s identity, producing fruit marked by balance and a kind of lifted, red-toned character that would become a hallmark of Dundee Hills Pinot Noir.

‘For me, it’s not an outlier for the Dundee Hills,’ says Jim Jr. ‘It’s high-tone, red and pretty. No big tannins, but elegance and refinement. Maresh fruit is really long in terms of holding its acidity in ripe, extended growing seasons. It’s at 750 feet (230m), so it’s high-elevation for the appellation. Maresh is, in some ways, the archetype of the Dundee Hills.’

The original farm was 140 acres (56ha), and today the Arterberry-Maresh estate totals 20 acres (8ha); Jim Jr farms about two acres of the remaining original plantings from the 1970s.

Ponzi Vineyard: 1970

The Ponzi family’s original estate vineyard, on the site of a former strawberry field, was planted in 1970 and sits among the Willamette Valley’s foundational sites, dating back to a time when conviction preceded clarity.

This initial plot, among the first five to be planted, was put down on the valley floor.

‘Though the Ponzis’ first planting proved to be viable in the production of all varieties planted, the family recognised quality could be pushed further,’ says Ponzi winemaker Max Bruening.

‘It wasn’t quite what they were seeking. To date, the Chardonnay (Clone 108 Wente/Davis) remains a staple of Ponzi’s sparkling blanc de blancs production, with a small percentage allocated to our still Chardonnay. Pinot Noir is sourced exclusively for our blanc de noir.’

The Ponzis, along with other members of the Willamette’s pioneering wine scene at the time, were a collaborative bunch.

‘In 1975, as part of the Oregon Winemakers Project, an effort spearheaded by Dick Ponzi, Dick Erath and Oregon State University, plantings were conducted to assess which clones could be viable for the area at that time,’ Bruening explains.

‘They were tasked with finding land, planting a vineyard, growing grapes, assessing the outcome, vinifying, blending, tracking, reporting and repeating.’

This early experimental site eventually became a part of Ponzi’s estate, the two-acre (0.8ha) Abetina Vineyard, which the family formally acquired in 1981.

The 1975 planting includes 12 different clones of own-rooted Pinot Noir and has helped inform the future of the Willamette Valley.

Hyland Vineyard: 1971

Originally planted in 1971 (and continuing through the late 1990s) on a south-facing bench in the foothills of the Coast Range, the Hyland Vineyard stands as one of the Willamette Valley’s earliest and, to this day, most versatile sites, known as much for its Riesling as for the distinctive clones of Pinot Noir.

Unique at the time, it was planted not by winemakers but growers, a collaborative effort by four families: Kreimeyer, Merkley, Welch and Smith.

Hyland began with an ambitious vision: to plant a large-scale, professionally farmed site that could supply fruit to the region’s fledgling wineries.

A total of 185 acres (74ha) were planted across the windswept knolls of what is now the McMinnville AVA.

The site itself sits exposed to the Van Duzer Corridor, northwest of Salem, where afternoon winds sweep in from the Pacific and cool the vines through the long days of late summer.

Early plantings included a mix of Pinot Noir selections that predated the modern clonal era, perhaps most notably the Coury clone, which has long been a bit mysterious.

Some say its origins lie in Alsace, others Germany, but who really knows?

A living archive

Half a century later, the vineyard reads like a living archive of Oregon’s first generation of viticulture.

Many of the original blocks remain, their thick trunks and modest yields a reminder of an era when nearly everything about farming Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley was a little bit experimental.

Evan Martin, the winemaker at Martin Woods, near McMinnville city, has delivered the top Pinot Noir from my past vintage reports more than once, and each time it was his Hyland Vineyard bottling.

‘The Hyland Pinot Noir, as I find it, prominently exhibits aromas of forest undergrowth and mossy earth – so coveted by lovers of traditional red Burgundy,’ says Martin.

‘Which is married to delicate florals and red fruit, with a silken palate that lingers seemingly forever.

‘As the vineyard has come of age, the warming trend of the last 30 years has shifted this originally very marginal cool climate to pitch-perfect growing conditions, leading to one of the truly unique ‘grand cru’ expressions of Pinot Noir in Oregon, a Chambolle-Musigny-esque personality that captives with the power of delicacy – defined by the subtle imprint that the wine makes on the sense memory.’

Oregon’s old-vine legacy in bottle today

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Clive Pursehouse speaks for the Willamette Valley in Oregon

As cool-climate Pinot Noir regions go, I think the Willamette Valley in Oregon is without peer in the United States.

I love the wines of the West Sonoma Coast, with their freshness and lift, but the classical elegance of the Willamette, marked by its unmistakable forest floor character and sweet, fresh red fruit, swings it for me.

The Willamette Valley has become a New World answer for lovers of classic Burgundy.

The biggest stigma that the Willamette Valley faces is that it’s not in California. As more than 80% of the country’s wine comes from the Golden State, people often have a hard time imagining American fine wine coming from anywhere else.

While Burgundy aficionados love the region’s Pinot Noirs, the average American wine consumer is still unaware of the Willamette Valley, considering this well-established region, with more than 700 wineries, a sort of ‘Wild West’ outpost.

Despite this, the region that was pioneered in the early 1970s has risen in just 50 years to be recognised as one of the world’s premium Pinot Noir-producing appellations.

American upstarts such as Adelsheim, Coury, Lett and Ponzi have been followed there by French names like Drouhin, Jadot and Lafon.

Unlike the West Sonoma Coast, which I do love for its beautiful wines, the Willamette isn’t a sub-appellation and has a singular identity, known for crafting elegant Pinot Noirs with fresh fruit and a deep, evocative ‘underbrush’ aspect, all while allowing for 11 nested AVAs within it to offer a diversity of expression.

You can’t see the ocean from any of the Willamette Valley’s vineyards – it sits about 65km west as the crow flies – but its maritime influence has a constant impact on the wines of the region.

Earthy richness

The cooling power of the Pacific makes the Willamette Valley the exceptional cool-climate region it is.

As the temperature rises in the valley during the warm summer months, cold air from the Pacific rushes into the Willamette through a gap in the Coast Range, cooling the region in the late-afternoon heat.

The latitude of the Willamette Valley, much farther north than Northern California, also means it has a shorter growing season and lower UV intensity.

The signature of Oregon Pinot Noir for me is the rich, Pacific Northwest forest floor, whether it’s turned soils, undergrowth or mushrooms: what the French call sous bois – the deep evergreen forests blanketed with ferns.

This provides a sense of depth and umami richness that frames the fleshy, bright berry fruits – be they strawberries, raspberries or riper Oregon blackberries – finishing with a saline character deriving from the region’s temperate Mediterranean and maritime climate, crisp and balanced acidity and often a flinty minerality.

Taken together, these elements create an elegance evocative of the Pinot Noirs of Burgundy.

However, in my view, the calibre of the wines, particularly for the price, exceeds what’s available in both Burgundy and the West Sonoma Coast.

Ana Carolina Quintela speaks for the West Sonoma Coast

American wine is no longer aspirational – let’s agree on this much before anything.

Pinot Noir, especially, has been thriving across different regions in the country, comfortably so.

Inevitably, at this point. The only interesting question isn’t whether the US can make great Pinot Noir, but where it speaks most compellingly.

More often than not, the answer circles back to the same two regions: Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the West Sonoma Coast of California.

While these two regions are often grouped together as cool-climate Pinot territory, in practice the resemblance only goes so far.

For me, the California coastal wines pull ahead, and the West Sonoma Coast’s biggest trump card is the Pacific ocean.

The ocean isn’t just a backdrop. The marine fog layer rolling in and out of the vineyards, spilling through winding roads, isn’t a special effect. The sudden rise in elevation isn’t scenery. The wind isn’t occasional, either.

Put it all together and those elements shape the wines that carry that imprint of salinity, etched acidity and a lift that goes beyond freshness.

It reads as energy. I’m comfortable calling it power.

Not ripeness, not weight, not authoritarian force. I mean the power of carrying a unique identity with confidence and a touch of defiance.

A power that doesn’t just sit on top of the wine, but holds it up from underneath. Pinot Noir is, by nature, an elegant grape, but elegance doesn’t have to be polite or appear fragile.

On the West Sonoma Coast, Pinot is elegant and unapologetically powerful.

A sense of scale

Part of what makes the West Sonoma Coast so compelling is also what makes it challenging for consumers to understand. This isn’t a region you cross through casually.

Vineyards are few and far between, because the land resists them with its steep ridges, isolated pockets, thick redwood forests and roads that remind you, pretty quickly, of how demanding it is to grow wine there.

There is a sense of scale: nature, larger than life, that shows in the glass.

I think it’s also fair to say that the Willamette Valley benefits from a built-in point of comparison to Burgundy.

Its geographic position (about 45°N latitude, compared to West Sonoma Coast’s 38.3°N) and climate make that parallel feel intuitive, and over time it has helped give the region a clear, legible identity, especially among collectors.

The West Sonoma Coast hasn’t had the same luxury.

As a younger AVA (American Viticultural Area – it was given TTB approval in May 2022), it has spent years labouring under the generic weight of ‘California Pinot’, or fighting for the visibility it deserves, which says more about how the two regions are framed than about the wines themselves.

I do love many of the wines from the Willamette Valley, but its more inland geography does leave it facing greater pressure as warming trends become harder to ignore.

And the longer you spend thinking about climate change, the more the coast starts to feel like insurance.

If great cool-climate Pinots are the ones that can keep their edge and balance, the appeal of places where the ocean still has a clear say feels obvious.

More top US Pinot Noir? For many more recommendations of top-quality Pinot Noirs from around the US, including Oregon and Sonoma, head to Decanter Premium

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Can a black grape make a white wine? Although the question might seem odd, winemakers have been working with this idea for hundreds of years.

While black/red grapes have dark skins, which is responsible for the colour when making red wine, most (though not all) have white flesh – and therefore white juice. This allows the production of white wines made from black grapes by quickly and gently pressing the grape and avoiding colour extraction.

The practice of using red grapes in still white wine production has been known for centuries, and wines made this way are often referred to as ‘blanc de noir’ (literally ‘white from black’).

Though an established style, it’s not a common one. The white Merlots made in Switzerland’s Lugano region and the use of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier to make white Champagne, are among the most notable and famous examples.

But there’s a growing movement based around this concept in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

From the ashes

In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the relatively cool climate provides ideal conditions for Pinot Noir. Here, the grape is the leading variety, accounting for 60% of the overall planted acreage, according to the Oregon Wine Board.

However, the massive wildfires in 2020 and the fear that skins would retain smoke taint gave this new white wine production a boost, as it gave winemakers an outlet to salvage some of the black grapes from the difficult harvest by just using the white juice.​

The result has been a growing number of ‘white Pinot Noirs’ that, rather than fading away as a one-off expediency, have become fixtures on winery line-ups.

Styles are varied, though many winemakers opt to age theirs in barrel for six to seven months before bottling – which means they’re ready in time for tastings in the spring.

In general, the profile is a clean, bright palate with notes of green apple, mandarin, and honeydew, with balanced minerality and acidity.

A new style for Oregon Pinot Noir

Tony Rynders, the co-founder of Tendril Cellars, was among the first winemakers to make white Pinot Noir in Oregon – long before the 2020 fires in fact.

While he was working at Domain Serene, he met a winemaker from Italy at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in 2004, who told him about the white Pinot Noir production in his region.

‘When he was describing it, the light bulb just went off for me. He didn’t have the wine with him, and I never tasted it, but I thought that it was cool and I wanted to make one,’ said Rynders.

It has become one of the signature wines, and one that Rynders continued to make at Tendril after departing Domaine Serene in 2008. At Tendril Cellars, he calls it ‘Pretender’ because, ‘it’s Pinot Noir, but it pretends to be a white wine’, and sells around 175 cases a year – nearly all of it direct from the cellar door.

He continues: ‘With Pretender, we pick the grapes at full maturity when the fruit is just ripe enough to make red wine. That is how we achieve the rich texture of this wine.’

Rynders does partial pressing and yields only about 60% of the juice used to make the wine. The juice maintains the grapes’ natural acidity and preserves the pH. He then matures the wine in neutral French barrels for 16 months, longer than other producers in the region.

During that period, the wine loses whatever colour it might have acquired during pressing. ‘By not having any poppable colour in our white Pinot Noir allows us to add more shelf life to the wine, a little more of the ageing potential. If there is a colour in these wines, they don’t age as well as they could,’ Rynders explains.

He decided to go even further and officially obtain approval for White Pinot Noir on the label by lobbying the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

In 2004, with the first vintage of the wine, he presented the idea to the agency and explained what it was and how it was made. ‘It didn’t really fit into a neat box for them. They initially weren’t going to let us use the term “White Pinot Noir” until I was able to convince them that it was Pinot Noir, just made as a white wine; So it is a tangent of Pinot Noir,’ Rynders remembers.

Still from sparkling

White Pinot Noir is one of the additions that another winemaker in Willamette Valley, Jessica Mozeico, introduced to Et Fille Wines in 2022.

‘It was never on my radar, and I was vaguely familiar with the concept,’ says Mozeico. ‘However, when I started making sparkling wine, I loved the base wine from our Pinot. I thought if I like the aromatics and acidity of this base wine, why not make it into a still wine?’

Mozeico uses the same block of Pinot Noir grapes for rosé and sparkling wine planted in 2003. This side of the vineyard is cropped more heavily to prevent fast maturity and the leaves are left to provide shade.

The grapes for rosé and white Pinot Noir are harvested at the same time. At the winery, these two wines are processed almost identically.

When pressed, Mozeico seeks free-run juice to minimise skin contact. There have been years when she refused to make a white Pinot because she couldn’t drop the colour.

‘There are certain things that I am looking for in this wine,’ says Mozeico, ‘I am looking for white colour, stone fruit aromatics, nectarine, peach, and some early strawberries. But if it starts to get beyond that, I put it in the rosé category.’

A Washington white wine maverick

In Washington State’s Columbia Valley, there aren’t many producers working with Pinot Noir.

The region is largely characterised by hot growing conditions and is a preferred terroir for Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and has become well known for Syrah.

Massalto works with one of the few vineyards to grow the grape there, and it’s the only winery using it to make white wine.

‘It reminds me of a combination of Viognier and Chardonnay. Part of that is the barrel fermentation. But with the notes of stone fruits and citrus, Pinot Noir makes me think of a white wine, actually,’ says Matías Kúsulas, the co-founder of Massalto Wine.

After tasting a white Pinot in Oregon in 2018, Kúsulas and his business partner, Chef Michael Ruhland, decided to make one at Massalto from fruit grown at Solaksen Vineyard, part of the Lawrence Estate Vineyards, where Kúsulas makes the wines at Gård.

Massalto is becoming known for its unorthodox and innovative approach to winemaking (using techniques like pre-and/or extended post-fermentation maceration), evident in the white Pinot Noir.

Along with playing with the harvest time to further drive certain flavours in the wine, in the cellar, Kúsulas tinkers further, pressing whole bunches at different pressures, and choosing between partial and no malolactic fermentation.

All of this experimenting took the winemaker through several harvests before Kúsulas achieved the bold style he sought; something that ‘separates them from the others,’ he says.

​

The 2020 vintage eventually gave him what he was looking for.

Unlike previous years, the fruit was left to hang longer. After pressing, the juice went straight to the barrel and produced a completely different profile than they expected for white Pinot Noir. ‘Very rich, tons of stone fruit with a little bit of citrus, the viscosity, the texture was amazing! It was actually a very serious wine,’ says Kúsulas.

This became the way Massalto makes its white Pinot Noir called Facade. The label’s artwork is a woman with a mask, partially covering her face, like this red grape, pretending to be something else.

A selection of white Pinot Noir:

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Napa & Sonoma

Napa and its neighbouring Sonoma County continue to shine brightly, as winemakers representing the next generation, and a fresh voice, sidle up next to established producers who’ve been making wines of renown for what seems like decades.

Our Sonoma correspondent Ana Carolina Quintela picked the one white in this year’s Wines of the Year selection – Poet & Prophet’s beguiling Ghost Cat Chardonnay from the intense mountain terroir in Alexander Valley’s eastern highlands.

And Quintela’s other selection is this year’s only 100-point wine, a Pinot Noir from Occidental – the lone producer who was in our WotY selection last year, too. The tiny berries and low yields harvested from this near-coastal vineyard site have crafted a wine of intensity.

Cabernet is king in Napa Valley, yet our Napa correspondent Jonathan Cristaldi’s top wine from 2025 is a Syrah: the Colgin Cellars IX Estate from the remarkable 2021 vintage. There’s an elegance to this bottling, offering floral and citrus tones like the classic Syrahs of the northern Rhône.

Napa’s Cathiard Vineyard, at St Helena, produced Cristaldi’s top-scoring Cabernet Sauvignon: from 45-year-old vines, the 2022 is a complete package. And from a high-elevation site on Howell Mountain comes Pilcrow’s Granite Lake.

Rather than the inky black fruit and dark chocolate you might expect, this Cabernet Sauvignon is a red-fruited surprise, with blood orange and grapefruit elements mingling with forest and mineral tones.

A throwback, says Cristaldi, to a classic age in Napa Valley.

Greater North America

Decanter’s US team tasted nearly 4,000 wines this year, and we saw talented winemakers come together with wonderful vintages in the 2022 and 2023 releases. Fantastic wines were made up and down the West Coast – indeed, four of our five selected wines were made from white varieties.

The cooler vintage in Washington state, balanced years in Willamette Valley and California, and the evolution of Chardonnay and white wine in general have given us a brilliant slate of wines.

In terms of scores, our list tops out with two wines from my Willamette Valley vintage report. My first 100-point wine is a thrilling Chardonnay from legacy producer Bethel Heights – The High Wire soars to great heights.

And the 99pt Hyland Vineyard Pinot Noir from Martin Woods is, in my opinion, the best red wine of the vintage: its elegance impresses immediately.

A stunning 2018 sparkling Chardonnay from Rhys is the current release from one of the first names in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the Mt Pajaro Vineyard perches on the western flanks, just 12km from the Pacific.

The wine offers a depth and richness evocative of the great wines crafted in that one place in northern France. From an iconic site in the Sta Rita Hills comes the Domaine Jean François, Sanford & Benedict Twelve Rows Chardonnay from 2021– it’s a collaboration between John Terlato of Sanford winery and Burgundy’s François Labet.

From the vineyard’s original 1972 own-rooted plantings, this is an intense wine that shows the greatness of Santa Barbara Chardonnay.

While a few wines from Washington in the cool 2022 vintage scored 98 points, the 97pt Grand Klasse Roussanne from Gård is the most compelling wine from the region. Intuitive winemaking, coupled with a perfect white wine vintage, came together to create what I believe is the best white wine ever to come out of Washington.

Wines of the year 2025: North America

Wines from Napa and Sonoma are listed first then wines from the rest of North America

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Of all the many thousands of wines tasted by Decanter every year, only a small handful ever gain the very highest score of 100.

This year, in fact, a mere 30 wines (tasted between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025) gained that coveted triple-digit score. In the immortal words of Cilla Black, let’s look at what they are and where they come from.

Top-scorers by country

As two countries that feature heavily both online and in print, the bulk of this year’s top-scoring wines came from France and the US.

France had the higher number of 100-point scores by far – 15 wines (50%) versus 12 (40%) from the US – while Italy with two 100-point wines and Australia with just one made up the difference.

Top-scorers by region

Drilling down into the regions things get a little more interesting. We can see that the French wines are split among several regions, with Bordeaux taking the largest share of 100-point wines (nine wines overall or 30% of the total).

However, the largest single region for top scores was California, with 11 wines (36.7%) that received a 100-point score.

The Rhône Valley was the third most-awarded region with five (16.7%) of the top scores, while Western Australia, Burgundy, Oregon, Tuscany and Piedmont all picked up one perfect score apiece.

Top-scorers by appellation

The most-awarded appellation overall was the Napa Valley, which had 10 wines with a 100-point score (mostly from one standout vintage, which was also the case with many of the Bordeaux wines as we’ll explore below).

There were three wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape as the second highly rated appellation – though probably not wines you would expect – followed by Cornas, Pauillac, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol and St-Emilion which all had two 100-point scores this past year.

The remaining appellations were Barolo, La Tâche, Margaret River, Margaux, Sonoma County, Toscana, and Willamette Valley with one 100-point wine apiece.

And now let’s briefly look at those wines.

France

Bordeaux

Many of the vintage reports published this year have focused on the very difficult 2024 vintage, which has not yielded many exceptional wines overall.

However, Bordeaux editor Georgie Hindle also reviewed the recently bottled and shipped 2022 vintage from Bordeaux which was a different story altogether.

In her report published in March, she said of the vintage: ‘The 2022s have emerged as wines out to please. As a group they are highly charged and powerful with an impressive amount of fruit, tannins and alcohol, yet they are refined and balanced with a sense of classicism.’

She gave six wines a score of 100-points – three each from the left and right banks.

She also gave a perfect score to the ‘monumental’ 2016 vintage of Château Latour, finally released from the estate’s cellars this spring.

Two wines from the 2015 vintage, Château Margaux and Château Lafleur confirmed in their majesty 10 years on.

Rhône Valley

Matt Walls covers the Rhône extensively for Decanter and this February he wrote about an especially memorable tasting at Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which yielded three 100-point wines.

These were not the estate’s reds though – but rather its ‘masterpiece’ of a white wine, the Roussanne Vieilles Vignes.

Tasted while scenes from Netflix’s Drops of God adaptation were filmed in the background, Walls was thoroughly seduced by what he calls ‘one of France’s greatest Mediterranean whites’, with many high scores given including three digits for three vintages: 2020, 2014 and 1988.

There was room for a couple of top-scoring reds though, notably two 2010 Cornas from Domaine Clape and Vincent Paris, which are among Walls’s favourite vintages from that appellation to drink now.

Burgundy

For a region with such a sterling reputation, there was just one wine that claimed a ‘perfect’ score in 2025. Maybe the standards of expectation from the Côte d’Or are that much higher?

Nonetheless, the unsurprising top-scorer was from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, with the domaine’s La Tâche 2022 getting the seal of approval from Charles Curtis MW during his in-bottle tasting this spring.

US

Napa Valley

Like Bordeaux, the bulk of top scores for Napa Valley this year came from the 2022 vintage, which was also not necessarily a straightforward growing season but from which some true gems have emerged.

Jonathan Cristaldi wrote in his report: ‘Compared to more structured, long-ageing vintages such as 2021 or 2019, the 2022s are approachable, plush and opulent.

‘Tannin structure varies, with some wines showcasing excellent granular grip and ageing potential while others exhibit a smoother, more fruit-driven profile that leans toward early drinking.’

Cristaldi ultimately gave six wines from the 2022 vintage 100 points, alongside another four from the 2021 – giving Napa its rather awesome tally of 10 top-scores this year.

Sonoma and Willamette Valley

The only US wines breaking Napa’s stranglehold on the crown were a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay duo.

In her report on the wines from the Sonoma Coast in 2022 (there’s that vintage again), Ana Carolina Quintela gave 100-points to the Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir from Occidental. A true ‘wow-moment wine’ she noted.

And our North America editor, Clive Pursehouse, awarded his very first 100-point wine to the ‘captivating’ Bethel Heights’ The High Wire Chardonnay 2023 from Willamette Valley in Oregon.

Best of the rest

Italy

A rather diplomatic split of one 100-point score each for Italy’s premier regions of Piedmont and Tuscany this year.

Michaela Morris dished out a top-score to Giacomo Conterno’s Montfortino Riserva 2019 in her review of that newly-released batch of wines.

And Italy editor, James Button, couldn’t help but give 100-points to the ‘impeccably harmonious and long-lived’ 2006 Masseto during a vertical of the Super Tuscan at the start of the year.

Australia

And to wrap things up, while reviewing the wines being released through La Place de Bordeaux this autumn, Hindle gave top marks to the Cloudburst Chardonnay from Margaret River.

She wrote: ‘Round, utterly moreish from the first sip – this is engaging, mouthwatering, alive and so utterly enjoyable. I’d never tire of drinking this wine.’

Decanter’s 100-point wines of 2025:

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‘This is my first 100-point wine after nearly 4,000 in my three years at Decanter’

Red grape Pinot Meunier, or just Meunier, as it is known in France, accounts for roughly a third of land under vine in Champagne, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir making up most of the remainder.

The grape is recognisable in the vineyard due to its leaves, which have fine hairs resembling a coating of white dust or flour on their undersides, hence the name Meunier, which means ‘miller’ in French.

This Champagne workhorse has sometimes been considered a lesser cousin to its popular counterparts, rather unfairly, given its reliability in the vineyard.

The three key varieties all have different roles to play in Champagne and other sparkling blends.

Think of friends at a gathering. Chardonnay is the well-dressed guest reclining elegantly on the sofa while self-assured Pinot Noir brings structure and weight to dinner table discourse. Meunier, previously considered less stylish than the other two, bursts into the room with its youthful character and vivacious acidity, although it may leave the party early, being generally less recognised for its ageing potential.

But expressions in Champagne and beyond are showing Meunier is emerging as a successful single varietal in its own right.

Although less common, some producers make a Blanc de Meunier, a Champagne made from solely Pinot Meunier grapes.

Master Sommelier Roberto Duran, who advocates for the variety, references the ‘lighter, more elegant style’ of Cazé-Thibaut’s Naturellement Extra. He also highlights the oxidative style of Denis Salomon’s Histoire de Famille which ‘brings powerful new energy and dimension to Meunier Champagne pairings.’

‘It matches especially well with one of my favourite dishes, beef tartare, integrating with the slightly spicy seasoning and complementing the meatiness of the beef,’ Duran adds.

And Pinot Meunier’s glory doesn’t stop at the sparkling category.

Kent producer Simpsons Estate makes a 100% Pinot Meunier still white, brimming with ‘tangy ripe red apple and pear’ according to a recent tasting note from Decanter contributor David Williams.

Over the pond in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Decanter’s North American Editor Clive Pursehouse describes a red expression in the form of Eyrie Vineyards’ Dundee Hills 2022 as having ‘aromas of wild green strawberries, mint and alpine meadow herbs’.

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Beyond the beguiling wines, there is a charm to the Willamette Valley that I haven’t found in other American wine regions. This is a place where small producers can still build something for themselves.

Access to vineyard land, or at the very least quality fruit, is not beyond the reach of an aspiring new producer.

As a result, the upper tier of the Willamette Valley is a place where longstanding producers of renown like Eyrie, Bethel Heights and Cristom have new peers like Martin Woods, Hundred Suns and Morgen Long.

Willamette is a winemaking community. A place where new producers are welcomed like old friends, and community trumps competition. It was that way in the beginning, and it remains that way today.

Three under-the-radar Willamette Valley producers to track

Granville Wine Co

Jackson Holstein is a second-generation winegrower in the Dundee Hills (his father, Allen, was one of the region’s pioneering winegrowers in the late 1970s), and he’s making brilliant wines at Granville Wine Co., which he owns with his wife, Ayla.

A farmer first, Holstein’s deft hand at winemaking is immediately obvious from his Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and brilliant sparkling wines. Granville’s first vintage was a small production in 2014, when both were still working day jobs. In 2018, the winemaking got serious, with the Holsteins building a winery and upping production.

Holstein grew up here in the nascent days of the Willamette Valley and is fully aware of what that means.

‘It’s one thing to be a multigenerational producer in a region with centuries of wine-related history or culture, like in Piedmont or Burgundy,’ Holsteins reflects. ‘It’s entirely different when the culture is still being established and defined, like it is here in the Willamette Valley.

‘The previous generation of pioneers and dreamers did their part; now it’s our turn. We’re out to show the world that Oregon’s full potential hasn’t yet been realised. We’re really just getting started.’

Holstein feels a sense of duty to build on the work of those who came before him and his contemporaries. At Granville, he’s crafting wines that would surely make those pioneers proud.

Evesham Wood and Haden Fig

I don’t think there are better Pinot Noirs for the money, anywhere in the world, than the ones being made by Erin Nuccio. To be clear, these aren’t just great values; they’re great wines.

Nuccio fell into wine after college, working at a wine shop near his home in Arlington, Virginia. He found himself drawn to the wines of the Old World, and it was then that he tasted his first Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs.

A trip to Northern California, with a desire to learn to grow and make wine, eventually landed Nuccio in the Willamette Valley in 2007.

‘I became friends with Russ Rainey, the founder of Evesham Wood in the Eola-Amity Hills, and started apprenticing under him,’ explains Nuccio. ‘I produced my Haden Fig wines in the Evesham Wood warehouse. My plan was to slowly build an estate, so Russ and I would drive the hills looking at sites he thought would make great vineyards.

‘As I started making Pinot Noirs from different sites like Cancilla Vineyard and Mahonia Vineyard, I quickly realised that a big part of what makes the Willamette Valley so special is that the same grape can be grown on very similar sites, sometimes right next to each other, and produce wildly different expressions of Pinot Noir, Nuccio concludes.’

White Walnut Estate

Chris Mazepink arrived in the Willamette Valley in 2000 and worked at some of the region’s larger producers, including Archery Summit, Shea Wine Cellars, and Benton Lane. In those winemaking roles, his charge was to craft wines that adhered to established house styles.

‘I moved to the Willamette Valley, from New York, in the summer of 2000 to dive into my graduate studies in fermentation science and viticulture at Oregon State University,’ says Mazepink.

‘At the time, most wineries in Oregon didn’t even have websites, and frankly, I had just purchased my first cell phone, so that first job involved me faxing my resume to every winery I could find a fax number for – less than 50 in total! Frankly, at that point, the Oregon wine industry was a bit more of an in-state novelty. Fast forward to today, and we’re a globally recognised, qualitative epicentre for benchmark examples of both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.’

His White Walnut Estate, planted on the eastern flank of the Dundee Hills, was established in 2015 and 2016. The estate sits just below the Domaine Drouhin estate, on a former walnut orchard.

It is a complete departure from his previous work. Mazepink farms organically and biodynamically, and leans heavily into the Dundee Hills. ‘I’m the only producer in the region who is making wine with exclusively Dundee Hills fruit,’ he informs me.

Mazepink’s nine wines (four Chardonnays and five Pinot Noirs) are an exploration of the Dundee Hills terroir and an expression of his diverse farming. His approach as a winegrower has given him fantastic material to work with as a winemaker.

He has amassed a collection of various Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clones and has taken his ‘polyculture’ approach to planting his White Walnut and Apple Field estate sites.

His Worden Hill Road bottling is an exploration of sites along the thoroughfare that cuts through the heart of the Dundee Hills. ‘The Dundee Hills are painted with too broad a brush,’ Mazepink says, ‘there are numerous non-fruit descriptors that I get from those sites.’

A more robust story of the Dundee Hills going beyond their signature fresh red fruits.

The Willamette Valley 2023 vintage rating: 5/5

The 2023 Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays alike show a consistency of quality, and as has been the case over the last few years, I find the Chardonnays showing slightly better.

The somewhat abrupt nature of the growing season meant winegrowers had to be ready come harvest time. You might see a couple of examples of wines where alcohol may have gotten away from people, but generally, there is an elegance that matches the vintage’s generosity.

Wines from rising Willamette Valley producers to have on your radar

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Winemaker Daniel Estrin came to make the wines and manage the estate vineyards at Oregon’s Cristom after a nine-year stint working in California alongside Sonoma County legend Ted Lemon.

He grew up in the Willamette Valley, but didn’t discover wine until he left. Having spent the early part of his career as a kind of adventure surf and snowboard bum, Estrin is now equally passionate about growing and crafting some of the country’s top Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Estrin is a seriously strong cyclist with a penchant for custom steel bicycles, of which he owns four – a mix of mountain and gravel bikes.

On a recent visit to the estate, he led me on the most unusual vineyard tour I’ve ever had, as we descended the vine rows at top speed on two of his mountain bikes.

Afterwards, he explained how he was introduced to cycling and the impact it has had on his wine-growing and -making…

A taste of freedom

‘Without a doubt, getting a mountain bike was the best thing that came out of my bar mitzvah,’ said Estrin.

‘I now had my own “wheels”. I always had a lot of freedom growing up, but this opened up a much wider area to explore. I could ride all over town and explore the surrounding farmland, but most importantly, I was introduced to a whole new subculture.

‘To say that I was hard on that first bike would be an understatement. The Bianchi Ocelot only cost a few hundred bucks and was not designed for the rigours that I put it through.

‘This inevitably led me to the local bike shops, and one in particular took me in. Santiam Bicycles employed a slew of young guys who took me under their wings and showed me how to work on my ever-broken bike, and would give me rides to local trail systems.’

The adventure continues

‘Cycling has brought many things to me throughout my life. Bikes allow me to have space for myself as an individual and have the time to actively meditate on my life.

‘For me, there is no better therapy than time in the saddle. While I treasure adventures with friends, when I am out by myself I find a place to process life.

‘I have ridden all over the desert of Utah, across Oregon, and this year I rode solo up into Washington state – from our home in McMinnville up through the coastal mountains and over the Columbia river to the base of Mount Adams.

‘The route was an amalgamation of other routes that I found through cycling groups and recommendations from pals. I saw all sorts of wildlife and many different forests and ecosystems, and met a few characters.

‘All in, the ride was about 500 miles [800km] and just shy of 50,000 feet [15,240m] of elevation gain in six days. I carried all my gear on the bike, allowing me to have the ability to camp whenever I felt like it. The self-supported aspect of the trip gave me freedom from any tether of obligations – just me and the bike.

‘A few weeks later, I came back to the Washington wilderness for some mountain biking with a couple of friends. This allowed me to see the same area from a more rugged vantage point.

‘We rode along ridgelines and traversed across different drainages to access some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever witnessed.

‘Time on my bicycle gives me the space to reflect on the vineyards, wines and the people that I work with. Riding through the vineyards of the Willamette Valley gives me greater appreciation for the elevation, microclimates and aspects of the sites.

‘I am grateful to be able to intimately engage with the landscape in which we grow the grapes that become the wines we pour ourselves into.’

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How much do you know about Oregon’s Willamette Valley and its origins as a famous growing region for superb Pinot Noir wines, as well as top Chardonnay?

Scroll down to test your level with our short Willamette Valley quiz, featuring five multiple-choice questions created by Decanter’s North America editor, Clive Pursehouse.

Decanter Premium subscribers can also read Pursehouse’s new, in-depth review of the Willamette Valley 2023 vintage, covering both Pinot Noir and also the best Chardonnay wines to look out for.

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‘Barely 1,000 acres [405ha] of Chardonnay vines existed in the entire state when we purchased our X Novo parcel in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA in 2010,’ says Craig Williams of X Novo, one of the most sought-after Chardonnay sites in Oregon.

‘Pinot Gris acreage was almost three times greater. This lack of Chardonnay – a noble variety that produces world-class white wines – seemed at odds with the focus on other cool-climate grapes.’

‘In 1986, Chardonnay was 25% of the plantings in the Willamette Valley,’ says Chris Mazepink, owner and winemaker at White Walnut Estate in the Dundee Hills.

‘Today, it’s only 5%, but the quality has never been better, and you can argue that Chardonnay has now eclipsed Pinot Noir among the top bottlings.’

Scroll down to see Clive Pursehouse’s notes and scores for 20 of the best Chardonnays from Willamette Valley’s 2023 vintage

Slow burn

Chardonnay from Willamette Valley has taken a circuitous path to its current success.

The valley’s oldest Chardonnay vines are in the Eyrie vineyard, where a single hectare was planted by David Lett in 1966.

Lett had acquired cuttings in 1964 from Joe Torres, who at the time was the vineyard manager for the Draper Ranch in St Helena; they spent a year in the ground in a nursery block near Corvallis, Oregon, before being transplanted.

A little later in the same year, Charles Coury planted the 108 clone from the University of California, Davis at his vineyard. The vines at both sites, and many of the valley’s other pioneering Chardonnay plantings, were California ‘heritage’ clones.

While successful in California’s warmer conditions, they had difficulty ripening in the cool, wet, nascent days of the Willamette Valley wine industry.

The arrival of Dijon clones, spurred on by Willamette pioneer David Adelsheim, saw a rise in Chardonnay plantings and increasingly reliable ripening.

But then, as climate change began to affect the valley, those early plantings of California clones went from being unreliable to creating perhaps its most compelling Chardonnays.

‘When I first started in 2000, we had the 1998 and ’99 vintages and then that year,’ recalls Mazepink.

‘People were excited that we got Chardonnay ripe three years in a row. At the time, it was accepted that one in three would be a washout. Now everything gets sufficiently ripe – it’s not nearly as variable as it was.’

Burgundian influence

In 2007, Evening Land Vineyards hired Dominique Lafon to come from Burgundy and consult on its newly acquired project in the Eola-Amity Hills.

His vision single-handedly changed the way Oregon producers approached Chardonnay. Rather than chasing ripeness, the focus shifted to picking earlier to preserve acidity and freshness.

Among his early devotees was Ken Pahlow (pictured, above), whose Walter Scott label now produces some of the valley’s top Chardonnays every vintage.

The modern-day Willamette Valley Chardonnay is one of balance, gorgeously rich texture and fruited depth that I often characterise as ‘lemon curd’, and a soaring freshness, of both acidity and minerality.

The Pacific ocean’s influence lends a saline throughline to these well-made Chardonnays, irrespective of producer.

Meanwhile, the creation of regional signatures has been assisted by the use of reductive winemaking (minimising exposure to oxygen) and, in some circles, the adoption of the ‘black Chardonnay’ technique.

This is a name now being applied to a production method that involves vigorous crushing of the grapes and ample aeration, which causes the must to turn rapidly to a dark brown or ‘black’ colour; the aim is to increase both the texture of the wine and its capacity for ageing, while also fending off oxidation once in the bottle.

London’s A&B Vintners has gone all-in on the Willamette Valley and its Chardonnays. Says buying director Simon Davies: ‘I think what Oregon does spectacularly well is compete at that mid-to upper level with white Burgundy.

‘The likes of Morgen Long, Crowley, Abbott Claim, Martin Woods and Arterberry Maresh, among others, are all producing wines that are intense, ageworthy and exhibit incredible uniqueness of site.’

François Millet made wine for more than three decades at Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, the iconic Chambolle-Musigny estate.

He speaks more like a poet than a winemaker and treats terroir with a deeply personal approach.

2023 marked his first vintage in the Willamette Valley, making the wines at La Biblioteca in Dundee. While he likens terroir to personalities, Millet thinks of vintages as similar to a mood.

‘The mood of the 2023 vintage in the Willamette Valley was determined but with generosity,’ he says.

‘It’s positive and determined, sure, but still very elegant. It’s not at all aggressive and has allowed for wines to be quite beautiful.’

100-point Oregon!

A ‘sweet spot’ is how I would characterise 2023 in the Willamette Valley – its cool beginnings akin to 2022 and its warm, dry finish similar to 2021.

The conditions, together with the rising tide of Chardonnay in the valley, delivered the first 100-point wine from Oregon in Decanter’s history: Bethel Heights, The High Wire Chardonnay 2023, a simply mesmerising wine from own-rooted Wente clone vines planted in 1977.

‘When my family purchased the property in 1978, these vines were just a year old – fragile sticks in the ground,’ says winemaker Ben Casteel. ‘Ripening them was a challenge every vintage, spanning my late father’s entire career and the first eight years of mine.

‘Over the years, they had every chance to replant with an earlier-ripening variety, but they chose patience,’ he continues. ‘That patience is what brought us to this moment, 47 years later.’

Pursehouse’s top Willamette Valley 2023 Chardonnay

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The wines that were made from the 2023 vintage in Oregon’s Willamette Valley are beautiful.

They readily offer the elegance and delicacy for which cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are known throughout the wine world. These are remarkable wines.

The results of a growing season that started cool and slow, and ended rapidly, there’s a grace and refinement stamped across them, from their aromatics to their polished finishes.

And there’s a precocious nature to them, too: perfect for those without patience.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 20 of the finest Pinot Noirs from Willamette Valley’s 2023 vintage

Willamette Valley 2023: 5/5

The 2023 Willamette Valley Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs show equally consistent quality, but as has been the case over the last few years, I find that the Chardonnays are showing slightly better.

The somewhat abrupt nature of the end of the growing season meant that wine-growers had to be ready come harvest time. You might see a few examples of wines where alcohol hasn’t been kept under control, but generally, there’s an elegance to match the generosity of the vintage.

Cool customer

The past three Willamette Valley vintages, 2021 to 2023, feel like a payback of sorts for the disastrous 2020.

The 2021s showed a readiness that allowed for prompt release to make up for the lost inventories created by the 2020 wildfires, while the long, cool 2022 vintage showcased the true beauty of the Willamette Valley.

It’s a properly cool climate, with prime growing conditions extending late into October, which in 2023 meant the wines could be picked at perfection, particularly for those of us who love the cooler years, such as 2019, 2011, 2010 and 2007.

Perhaps 2023 has trumped both 2021 and 2022 – almost a perfect blend of the two, offering the elegance and refinement for which the region is known, coupled with generosity and early availability.

‘The velocity of the vintage was the theme for 2023,’ says Ken Pahlow, owner and winemaker at Walter Scott.

Willamette Valley experienced its shortest period from bud break to bloom, which typically takes about 60 days; in 2023, it was reduced to about 40.

The cool spring was then moved along quickly by very warm May weather. Onésimo ‘Ony’ Mora and his brothers farm more than 20ha in the Willamette Valley.

‘I wouldn’t describe 2023 as a hot vintage, but it was definitely on the dry side,’ Mora explains. ‘When bud break started in April, things seemed pretty “normal” by recent Willamette standards.’

Rapid ripening

‘In June, suddenly we felt that it was coming on fast,’ Mora continues.

‘For us, it meant we immediately needed to do the same work at all of the different vineyards we’re managing, almost at the same time. If we get behind on our hand labour or our organic sprays, then it’s possible we don’t ever really catch back up. We managed to stay on top of it, but barely.’

‘As harvest neared, the “optimal” weather pattern continued, advancing ripeness for us in every site very uniformly,’ recalls Pahlow.

‘Instead of picking over several weeks, it was very compressed. Capturing freshness where things went quickly was the primary driver. Everything got ripe at the same time. We picked several sites on the same day. That’s never happened before.’

The same logistical issues that the Mora brothers dealt with in the vines were faced by winemakers such as Pahlow in cellars up and down the valley, as all of their fruit came in at almost exactly the same time.

Tomorrow: The concluding part of the report and reviews of the best Chardonnays

Top 10 wines of the vintage:

Bethel Heights, The High Wire Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 100pts

Martin Woods, Hyland Vineyard Pinot Noir, McMinnville 99pts

Granville, Koosah Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 98pts

Walter Scott, Koosah Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 98pts

White Walnut Vineyard, Estate Chardonnay, Dundee Hills 98pts

Beaux Fréres, Rogue Vines Chardonnay, Ribbon Ridge 97pts

Crowley, Phoebe Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, 97pts

Goodfellow Family Cellars, Richard’s Cuvée Chardonnay, Ribbon Ridge, 97pts

Cristom, Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, 97pts

Evesham Wood, Cuvée J Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, 97pts

Pursehouse’s 20 great Pinot buys from 2023

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2022 will be a memorable vintage for me, as my first in the role as Decanter’s (then) US Editor, I found myself on Red Mountain as the harvest crescendo was reaching its climax. It was October, yet the weather was warm, clear, and sunny.

I even picked up doughnuts for the vineyard crew at Kiona.

Growers and winemakers alike were thankful for that unusually warm autumn, as it was a cool, challenging vintage, the likes of which the region had not seen in a very long time.

Columbia Valley vintage ratings

2022 4/5

A long cool vintage, with the requisite heat to move ripeness along, if only just. The story of the 2022 vintage is the story of patience and perspective. Cool conditions early made many uneasy, but for those who appreciate elegance, this is a unique vintage for Washington. Cool conditions led to lower alcohols, higher acidity, and fantastic white wines. Ageability is here, and the tannins, which can be unwieldy at times, are far more approachable in the 2022 vintage. It is a vintage that will be touted for its refinement and balance but may take a few years to be fully appreciated.

2021 3/5

A vintage beset by record-shattering temperatures, 2021, in terms of wine quality, was a vintage for those pursuing balance. The heat dome in June, coupled with continued hot weather through harvest, made acidity and freshness harder to come by for many Columbia Valley producers. Winemakers in slightly cooler sites benefited, as did those who relied on proactive vineyard management. Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon showed that they could take the heat for the most part, and many up-and-coming producers made wines that stood out by picking earlier and benefiting from sites with strong mineral character.

2020 3/5

In this slightly warmer-than-average year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced wineries to develop strategies to continue making wine. The best show finesse and balance, with fine examples, particularly from the Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. In September, wildfires raged to the south in Oregon, complicating ripening and affecting some vineyards with smoke taint. However, there wasn’t the same widespread damage here as in parts of Oregon and California.

‘This was the coolest and wettest spring I can remember,’ says Washington State grower, Dick Boushey. ‘We had a late bloom by two to three weeks. There was snow and frost between bud break and bloom. Then it was consistently warm. And finally, the most fabulous fall I have ever seen.’

‘2022 was the second coolest vintage in the state’s history, after 2011,’ says Matías Kúsulas, head of winemaking and viticulture at Washington’s Gård Vintners, situated in the Royal Slope appellation. ‘Everything was delayed, but we were lucky to benefit from a very long season after veraison. No heat spikes, and a growing season, with a very long, warm tail.’

In summary, the 2022 vintage was a throwback to the region’s early days, when acidity was more pronounced and alcohol levels were lower. It was a fantastic vintage for white wines. I’d argue it was the best I’ve encountered in the Columbia Valley.

It was not a ‘set it and forget’ year for the absentee winemaker, however, and those who spent plenty of time in their vine rows made the best, and in some cases, fantastically elegant wines.

See all 300+ of the 2022 Columbia Valley wines tasted from Washington and Oregon

A snowy start

The cool start to the spring season followed a very wet winter, which recharged soil moisture in the dry region of the Columbia Valley.

For the most part, bud break lagged a few weeks behind more recent ‘average’ vintages, though some early budding occurred. A snowstorm hit the Columbia Valley, with blizzard conditions between April 11 and April 14, landing between bud break and bloom, pushing things back even further.

The bizarre, blizzard-like storm left multiple inches of snow on the ground throughout Eastern Washington and Oregon, from 2 to 5 inches (5-12cm), and saw temperatures dip into the low 20°s(-6C).

There was some bud damage to early ripening varietals, but as the growing season went on, it resolved into one known for its higher yields. Driven largely by the extremely small crop that marked the previous, 2021 vintage.

Warm weather and a perfect October

A late-blooming summer finally arrived towards the end of June, as the wetter-than-normal conditions finally tapered off and warm, dry weather moved in. July and August both saw above-average heat.

However, ripeness lagged so far behind that those two warm months did not put much of a dent in the impact of the cool, wet early season.

Most of the Columbia Valley’s harvest activity happens in September, but in 2022, very little fruit came in before October. In general, most winemakers needed every minute of the warm, dry October to bring everything home.

The month delivered, with perfect conditions, right up until 20 October. The early part of the month saw ten days of temperatures over 80°

These abnormal late seasons made for a perfect landing for the cool, unusual vintage. Finishing with above-average acidity and lower than typical brix. Elegance was out there for the winemakers who sought it.

Columbia Valley’s top 10 wines of 2022

(Full reviews are linked in the wine name.)

Cimento, Orselli Vineyard Syrah, The Rocks District 98 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 98 points

Martin Woods, The Rocks Syrah, The Rocks District 98 points

Avennia, Sestina, Columbia Valley 97 points

Betz Family, La Serenne Syrah, Yakima Valley 97 points

Devison, Phantom Lamb, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Roussanne, Royal Slope 97 points

Jett, Skysill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley 97 points 

Reynvaan Family Vineyards, Stonessence, The Rocks District 97 points

Trothe, Sauvignon Blanc, Horse Heaven Hills 97 points

A Columbia Valley curveball

After all the drama, 2022 may be a vintage that further separates those who are meticulous about their vineyard sources from those who are not.

In a region that has one of the most predictable climate patterns in America’s various wine regions, 2022 threw winemakers and winegrowers a curveball.

‘2022 caught a lot of people out,’ says Alex Stewart, head winemaker at Matthews Estate. ‘We’re in a region that can be consistent to the point of boredom. The cool vintage surprise that was 2022 caused some winemakers who weren’t used to seeing this degree of vintage variation to freak out a little bit, and many people pulled the trigger too early.’

‘We were waiting on a freeze that never happened. Some people may have picked a little early, which can create a mid-palate void,’ says Matías Kúsulas.

In a region that is largely a desert climate, it can be common for winemakers not to spend much time in the vineyards. The reliable conditions create a ‘set it and forget it’ attitude.

But in a tricky year for the typically predictable Columbia Valley, attention made all the difference.

‘You had to have people in the rows,’ says David Wanek, proprietor of Cimento in The Rocks District, ‘and if you didn’t, you can have variability. 2022 was a challenging year in the vineyard, managing the canopy, dealing with heat spells and needing to drop fruit.

‘There were a lot of variables to try and get control of. Having a firm grasp of the farming really allowed us to do it the right way.’

Washington’s best white wine vintage yet?

Rhône varieties had a fantastic 2022 vintage, with Grenache, Syrah, Roussanne, and Viognier all shining.

The most compelling story for me is about the white wines that came from 2022. The acidities capture what is far too often missing from white wines from this region. A fresh and lively character that can balance the ripeness that this region easily achieves.

The vintage created extraordinary white wines for the Columbia Valley. The ability to retain acidity has created multi-dimensional wines from Sauvignon Blanc, to Chardonnay, to the Gård Roussanne, Grand Klasse, a runaway for the best white wine I’ve ever tasted from Washington.

‘We had nights at 45° in the summer,’ recalls Kúsulas. ‘It allows the grapes to retain their acids. The fruit had high levels of both malic and tartaric acids, which means you can produce more lactic acid, creating texture and a complex mouthfeel.’

‘2022 turned out to be a fantastic year for white wines in Washington, says Trothe winemaker, Ray McKee. ‘Thanks to a late and remarkably cool start to the growing season. A mild, mid-April frost trimmed the crop a little, particularly in our white varietals, setting the stage for concentration and nuance. That cool stretch lasted well into July, and it really shaped the vintage.’

Indeed, a cool, collectable vintage for lovers of fresher styles of wines, and for those new to these wines from Washington and Oregon, the top bottles below are a must-try, a brilliant introduction to the region in a cool year.

Columbia Valley 2022: 30 of the top wines tasted

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Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

In the Pacific Northwest, there are two larger wine regions. The Willamette Valley in Oregon, and much of Washington’s wine country within the Columbia Valley.

While the two regions may be somewhat proximate, the dynamic topography, namely the Cascade Mountain range, leaves them worlds apart in terms of the growing conditions and the style of wines they produce.

One produces, mainly anyway, cool climate grapes long known to hail from Burgundy in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and Washington’s Columbia Valley is mostly an arid, desert climate where you can grow anything from Riesling to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Oregon’s Willamette Valley in full swing

John Grochau, who makes the wines at his own GC Wines, as well as for a few other brands in the Willamette Valley, finds similarities between this year and a recent vintage. ‘I think this vintage is going to look pretty similar to 2023, when it’s all said and done,’ Grochau concluded. ‘We had a warm, steady and dry summer, producing small grapes with thick skins. We have a lighter crop this year, with some good concentration in the berries.’

It was, in general, a steady growing season, but things ramped up in August.

‘In late August, we had quite a bit of heat, advancing sugars in the grapes ahead of phenolic ripeness,’ Grochau said. ‘I was getting concerned about having to rush to pick, but some cool weather came in on the 6 September, and a bit of rain came in and slowed it down perfectly, giving the fruit more balance.’

September will be a busy one up and down the Willamette Valley, with cooler sites being picked towards the end of the month, while some of the warmer spots and particular varieties came off the vine in September’s first few days.

‘Our first pick was Albariño from the Columbia River Gorge on Friday, September 5, Grochau recalled. ‘We started harvesting Pinot Noir for red wine on September 10, and will likely be picking every day for the next few weeks. The grapes are coming along fast. The rest of September will be very intense, processing lots of fruit and working through the logistics of getting everything in at the right time in a small winery.’

Staying steady in Washington State

In the hot and dry conditions that are perennially a part of a desert growing season, winemakers concern themselves with things like dehydration and heat spikes, but so far, 2025 has really played ball.

‘2025 has been beautiful thus far, and we have a finish line in sight,’ reported Seth Kitzke, of Upsidedown Wine, sourcing from Washington’s Yakima Valley.

‘The spring warmed up quicker than anticipated and was pretty dry. This early warmth expedited our time through bloom and fruit set, requiring some serious attention to detail early on. This year we lacked the moisture that is usually present in our northern-facing sites, so we had to intervene a little earlier than usual.’

While things got off to a fairly rapid start, they slowed to a steady pace, letting the grapes take the time they needed so that phenolic ripeness wasn’t lagging behind sugar accumulation.

‘The warm spring had me worried for a bit about a hot year, but we tapered off to a very average year that has just been consistent. Without big stretches of high heat and only a handful of days over 100° (37.7 °C), the vines didn’t ever seem to fully shut down,’ Kitzke said.

‘I think this, combined with an earlier fruit set, really made for amazing depth and flavours early. The fruit has been tasting good since the start of August, which is unusual.’

Even though steady growing conditions have been the rule, there are a few curveballs that are keeping Washington winemakers on their toes.

‘The yields, specifically in our Tremasi Vineyard on Red Mountain, are really low for our Syrah,’ Kitzke reported.

‘I think that perhaps the warm spring gave the Syrah a harder time.

‘Cabernet Franc, I think, could be another varietal to keep an eye on. It coloured up very early, and the phenolics were ahead of Cabernet and Merlot for us. We already have two picks of CF in the door. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why some varieties are ready before others this year.

‘You kinda have to throw your typical picking order schedule out the window this year and trust your palate!’

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Faulkner said that: ‘Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar.’

That struck a chord in me as a frenzied August saw me packing in a few days on the road, including a trip home, a trip that definitely struck me as sad, nostalgic and familiar.

Somehow, between it all, I found the time to taste more than 300 wines. It was a whirlwind.

Santa Cruz Mountains

Prior to my visit to the Santa Cruz Mountains in August, I had made the pilgrimage to Montebello, but hadn’t ventured beyond those hallowed grounds at Ridge.

On this August visit, hosted by the Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains regional body, I was able to get a more holistic picture, including visits to Rhys, Mount Eden and a new to me producer, Thomas Fogarty, as well as a return trip to Montebello.

On my last day, I sat down to a broader appellation tasting and left there having tasted over 120 wines in just three days. I also had one of the best burritos of my entire life.

While this is where American Pinot Noir first got its start, thanks to Paul Masson in the early 1900s, it was actually the Chardonnay and Syrah which blew me away.

The beautifully rugged region, with its enchanting, unique garrigue-scent filling the air at nearly every turn, is home to incredible wines. High elevation, steep slopes, and cool air from the Pacific, combined with fog from the San Francisco Bay, all come together to create something truly exceptional.

One of California’s original wine regions remains far too under the radar, despite the success of Ridge, but look for more coverage from me later this fall.

The Dundee Hills

In an effort to wrap up my 2023 Willamette Valley vintage report, I made the trek down to the Dundee Hills to taste with a few producers who had thus far eluded me.

An impressive new discovery was the wines from the White Walnut Estate, positioned on the lower flanks on the eastern side of the Dundee Hills. Owner and winemaker Chris Mazepink planted his home site in 2015 and has had some expansion since then.

He’s cut his teeth at some of the Willamette’s larger producers, but with the tiny production of his White Walnut wines, Chris is really showing a sense of place and elegance.

He says: ‘The Dundee Hills are too often painted with a broad brush and so all of these wines show the diversity of this appellation, and why even though this is where the Willamette Valley started in the 1960s, there’s a lot to explore.’

A tasting later that day at the place where it all actually started in the Willamette, Eyrie Vineyards focused on the new releases. The tasting went into the evening and I and a few others were treated to a few special bottles from the cellar of Jason Lett, second generation winemaker whose father planted the Willamette Valley’s first Pinot Noir in 1966.

Down to business

The month wrapped up with a few tastings at Woodinville, Washington wineries, Matthews Cellars, and Gård, where winemaker Matías Kúsulas is crafting some of the most compelling wines in Washington.

I’m more or less done with my big Washington and Oregon tastings for the year, and now it’s time to get busy writing the vintage reports for both the Willamette and Columbia Valleys.

Wish me luck.

Clive’s top 10 wines from August

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I’m of the opinion that perhaps the 100-point score is too freely given.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be on the delivering end of the triple-digit number in my role at Decanter. 

To me, the notion of perfection is difficult to fully capture, both in the process of doing something, such as making wine, and equally in evaluating it.

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‘My hope is that this allows us to talk about Willamette Valley Chardonnay the same way our Pinot Noir has been considered historically, that we can be viewed as a region that does more than one thing well’ – Ben Casteel

An A+ wine starts at 95 points, and there’s ample room to assess greatness between there and perfection. It can be akin to splitting hairs, sure, but that’s part of any wine critic’s role.

A perfect score, to me, means nothing is out of place, nothing is missing. I tend towards the old saying, ‘nobody’s perfect’.

Chardonnay on the rise

I cover Oregon (and Washington) for Decanter in addition to my responsibilities as North America editor, and over the past three years I’d given three 99-point scores – all to Oregon Pinot Noirs.

They were: an outstanding bottle from Abbott Claim, first place in Decanter’s Top 50 US Wines last year; most recently a Martin Woods Hyland Vineyard Pinot Noir; as well as a 2018 Pinot from White Rose Estate. All incredible wines – among the best I’ve ever tasted.

But Oregon’s Chardonnay has been gaining ground, both in terms of plantings (with acreage doubling since 2014) and critical acclaim.

In my past two vintage reports for Decanter I’ve rated Willamette Valley Chardonnay as high, or higher than the Pinot Noirs.

So my first 100-point wine, from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, is not a shock. It may surprise some that it was Chardonnay, but only if you haven’t been paying attention.

A family legacy

Bethel Heights has a long and storied history in the Willamette Valley, dating to 1978. The Casteel family, two brothers and their wives, founded the estate and have long been one of the flagship producers in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA.

Ben Casteel, a second-generation winemaker, took the reins from his late father Terry. He is very much a ‘winemaker’s winemaker’.

In a recent conversation with another accomplished producer in the region, they told me: ‘Sometimes people ask me who makes my favourite wines in the Valley, and Ben is at the top of my list.’ Confident and direct, and undoubtedly skilled. He is one of the top talents in the region, and he has been for some time.

The story of this bottle is wrapped up in the name, the old vines, the work that Ben’s parents, and his aunt and uncle did to establish both the Valley and the Eola-Amity Hills – that’s all a part of the beauty of this wine.

It’s a wine that speaks to that family’s legacy and importance. The challenges of the Wente clone early on and the sweet spot that it is clearly sitting in now – all of that background context.

It comes together to make what is, to me, a perfect bottle of Chardonnay. My first 100-point wine.

A brilliant bottle

The High Wire Chardonnay was my last wine to taste on this particular Friday afternoon. As I tasted it, it seemed like the complexity never stopped.

There are some truly exceptional Chardonnays being produced in Oregon right now, and many exhibit noticeable reduction, which I happen to love.

This wine, though, right out of the gate, had a clarity that some of those others don’t have in their youth. The complexity and nuance were allowed to shine.

Maybe it’s the Wente clone, but it’s clear Ben did a brilliant job layering fruit, minerality and savoury depth, and the texture stole the show. I haven’t tasted a better wine.

‘It feels like a fitting and bittersweet bookend for our Wente Chardonnay clone, planted in 1977 and soon to be replanted this fall,’ says Ben.

‘When my family purchased the property in 1978, these vines were just a year old – fragile sticks in the ground. Ripening them was a challenge every vintage, spanning my late father’s entire career and the first eight years of mine.

‘Over the years, they had every chance to replant with an earlier-ripening variety, but they chose patience. That patience is what brought us to this moment, 47 years later.’

Decanter’s first 100-point Oregon Chardonnay

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Oregon wine country has been among areas recently targeted by agents working for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Willamette Valley Wineries Association said the local wine community had been shaken by two recent ‘enforcement actions’.

It didn’t name any individuals, although local vineyard expert Moises Sotelo was detained by ICE agents in Newberg while on his way to work on 12 June, according to his family.  

‘His sudden detention has left his family emotionally devastated and facing immediate legal battles,’ said a GoFundMe page set up to help the family with legal expenses and which had raised more than $136,000 by Tuesday 24 June.

Sotelo was being held in Tacoma, Washington State, although he had briefly been moved to Arizona before being returned north, said an update on 20 June.

A respected figure in the industry, Sotelo received a Vineyard Excellence Award in 2020 from the Oregon Wine Board. Last year, he created a new business, Novo Start Vineyard Service. 

Local news outlets quoted ICE as saying Sotelo entered the US illegally in 2006 and had a conviction for ‘driving under the influence’ (DUI) in Newberg.

Yet, it was also reported that no conviction record could be found. Plus, the Novo Start Vineyard Service website states Sotelo has been in the US since 1994.

Speaking to KGW News, Sotelo’s daughter, Alondra Sotelo-Garcia, said she visited her father in a detention centre, where he was ‘in chains at his feet’. The channel also reported that Sotelo had begun a citizenship process under the Biden administration.

News of his detention comes amid broader concerns around ICE targeting farm workers across the US, including vineyard and winery staff.

Morgen McLaughlin, executive director of the Willamette Valley Wineries Association (WVWA), said, ‘The Oregon wine industry is a community—one built on trust, care, and the hands-on dedication of vineyard stewards and winery team members, many of whom are immigrants or part of immigrant families. These individuals are not just essential to the success of our region; they are woven into the fabric of who we are.’

McLaughlin added, ‘In recent weeks, our community has been deeply shaken by two immigration enforcement actions. Our hearts are with them, and we are committed to supporting their well-being and safety.

‘We are working closely with trusted partners—including the Willamette Valley Wine Foundation, Oregon Wine Board, and Oregon Winegrowers Association—to provide immediate and long-term support.’

WVWA is coordinating with local advocacy groups to help ensure access to legal resources and accurate information, and industry leaders are talking to government officials to advocate for ‘the dignity and rights of those who make Oregon wine possible’, said McLaughlin. 

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What does it take to turn a mere patch of vines into something truly extraordinary? In places such as France, the answer is as much political as it is cultural – think grands crus, the product of centuries of tradition and strict regulation.

In the US, however, no such hierarchy exists.

Yet, if greatness in wine truly begins with a profound sense of place, a vineyard so distinct and expressive that it imprints itself on every bottle, vintage after vintage, then America’s most compelling sites are slowly but surely asserting their case.

Not through formal classification, but through daring minds, patient hands, vibrant topography that communicates the character and dynamism of a region or place – or perhaps all of these combined.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 10 wonderful wines from America’s finest vineyards

‘Part of our strength is that there’s a lot of fluidity and still plenty of opportunity to observe the sites we already know more closely, refine our practices and discover smaller, lesser-known sites that are absolutely worthy but perhaps not yet recognised,’ says Ted Lemon winemaker and co-founder of West Sonoma Coast’s famed Littorai.

Among the vineyards that have risen to prominence across the US, the following 10 stand out for their distinctiveness and their growing reputations – consistently offering something unique, they have already earned themselves a place of significance in US viticulture…

Heintz

Sonoma Coast, California

Planted area 22ha

‘That vineyard holds acidity very well. It has this lovely, gradual, steady ripening quality,’ says Ted Lemon, highlighting why Heintz has become synonymous with the piercing acidity that has helped revive Californian Chardonnay in recent years – bright, lean and unapologetically fresh.

Located east of Occidental and about 10km from the Pacific, the vineyard sits in a sweet spot at the intersection of three different AVAs: Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley and Green Valley. It seems to capture the best of all worlds – coastal fog, higher elevation (about 250m) and just the right amount of warmth to promote ideal ripening.

The site has been in the Heintz family for more than 100 years, dating back to 1912, but it was only planted with vines in the early 1980s, primarily using Wente clones. For years, the family mostly sold their fruit to large wineries.

Currently managed by Charles Heintz, a third-generation grower, the Heintz vineyard has quietly shifted focus, establishing contracts with smaller producers such as Littorai and Williams Selyem, and sparkling wine makers such as Ultramarine.

This transition has introduced a more hands-on approach to farming, block by block, moving away from high yields in favour of a craft that prioritises quality over quantity.

Hirsch

West Sonoma Coast, California

Planted area 29ha

The drive up Bohan Dillon Road in northern California hints at what awaits at the summit.

Right above the Pacific, rising from the marine fog at an elevation above 370m, the Hirsch vineyards rest where the Sonoma Coast meets wilderness. It’s a place of extremes, perched atop the San Andreas Fault – steep slopes, fractured and diverse soils, intense sunshine, high if erratic rainfall and winds that never quite settle.

Yet, against all odds, the wines from this site carry an enduring grace and a powerful elegance. ‘It’s a uniquely shaped piece of land,’ says Jasmine Hirsch, second-generation winemaker and daughter of David Hirsch, the land’s pioneer.

When David planted the first vines in 1980, he didn’t have a master plan – just a feeling that this remote, unruly land could produce something special.

After experimenting with Riesling, he received advice from his viticulturist friend Jim Beauregard, who was visiting from the Santa Cruz mountains, regarding the site’s potential for Pinot Noir.

Beauregard even gifted him cuttings – a mix of Pommard and Wädenswil clones, which have their origins respectively in France and Switzerland. And the rest, as they say, is history, with the vineyards now covering an area of 29ha (72 acres) across more than 60 blocks, all farmed individually.

‘There’s no great terroir without great ownership,’ says Ted Lemon, who has been the longest continuous purchaser of Hirsch fruit, starting back in 1994.

‘At Hirsch, you have all these different spurs and hilltops with varied orientations – something that wouldn’t necessarily make sense in a European, pre-climate change context. It’s David’s resolute stubbornness and his willingness to understand what suits the vineyard best that sets it apart.’

Las Piedras

St Helena, Napa Valley, California

Planted area 8.9ha

Las Piedras may not be the first vineyard that comes to mind among Beckstoffer Vineyards’ remarkable stable of renowned Napa properties, but if you ask around, many winemakers will say that it shows the most distinctive terroir of them all.

Acquired in 1983, Las Piedras (‘The Stones’) is part of Beckstoffer’s heritage vineyards collection. ‘It’s definitely the most individual in Beckstoffer’s lineup,’ says Matt Sands, winemaker at Lithology, who has been making wine from Las Piedras grapes since 2015. Andy Beckstoffer himself agrees, noting that many of his buyers consider it a ‘true grand cru’.

‘The idea of investing in terroir was risky, and I don’t want to take too much credit for it because it takes a village, but it worked out,’ reflects Beckstoffer.

Originally part of the Mexican land grants, it was the first vineyard in what is now the St Helena AVA and was initially planted to Mission grapes (País/Criolla, the earliest Vitis vinifera variety to be grown in the Americas).

Las Piedras is celebrated for its striking minerality, benefiting from the gravelly, loamy, alluvial soils, which provide good drainage and natural vine stress. The result is wines that consistently earn top scores, with 100-point ratings from leading producers appearing time and time again.

‘You get a mix of vibrant red and black fruits, deep concentration, an underlying earthiness and a distinct freshness with a mineral edge. It’s a captivating vineyard,’ Sands concludes.

Sanford & Benedict

Sta Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California

Planted area 60.7ha (20.6ha early 1970s original plantings)

Sanford & Benedict isn’t just part of the Sta Rita Hills story – it helped write some of its first chapters.

As the first site planted to Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County, it set the stage for the region’s rise, with its influence stretching far beyond its vineyard rows and leaving an indelible mark on the wine world.

Planted own-rooted by Michael Benedict and Richard Sanford (first to Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon in 1971, then to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in 1973), the vineyard has provided cuttings that have spread widely across the region.

‘As Michael shared with me over the years, any time a neighbouring vineyard owner asked for cuttings, he was happy to share,’ says John Terlato, vice chairman of the Terlato Group, which purchased the vineyard in 2007.

Sanford & Benedict lies just 16km from the Pacific, where it’s enveloped in a cool, marine layer of air that tempers the relentless Central Coast sun, a delicate balance of brisk ocean breezes meeting sun-drenched afternoons. Its deep marine soils boast a remarkable water-holding capacity.

The legacy of Sanford & Benedict is not only rooted in its history but also in its boundless potential.

Terlato notes that even wines from the mid- to late 1970s still exhibit a ‘rare depth, precision and youthful vibrancy. The potential couldn’t have been more evident, and they still have a great deal of runway ahead,’ underscoring the vineyard’s remarkable ability to produce wines with exceptional longevity and character.

Savoy

Anderson Valley, Mendocino, California

Planted area 21ha

‘It’s the one right across from the hardware store,’ locals will say, reminding us that great terroir doesn’t always come with a view. ‘It’s nothing flashy, but the fruit is spellbinding,’ says Kenneth Juhasz, founder and winemaker at Auteur Wines.

If Savoy’s outward appearance doesn’t turn heads, its inner beauty – soil, climate, farming – has attracted people for decades and has helped elevate Anderson Valley to one of California’s top Pinot Noir regions.

The 21ha vineyard sits on a mix of valley floor and gentle southwest-facing slopes. It was first planted in 1991 by Richard Savoy, a true Burgundy devotee – often described as eccentric by those who know him.

Ted Lemon, who has been producing a Savoy Pinot Noir for Littorai (based further south at Sebastopol) since 1995 – dramatically influencing the site’s development – credits this to years of farming with organic methods, and the vineyard’s soil diversity and moderate climate.

‘To me, the wine reflects that same unassuming quality of the site,’ Lemon observes. ‘It’s never the flashiest wine we make, but it’s always among the wines that age the best.’

Vine Hill Ranch

Oakville, Napa Valley, California

Planted area 29ha

Vine Hill Ranch is Napa Valley’s backstage pass to some of the world’s most prized Cabernet Sauvignon – a source for some of Napa’s most prestigious winemakers, supplying grapes to labels such as Harlan’s Bond label, Colgin Cellars and other ‘cult’ Napa Cabs.

The blend of volcanic rock and loamy clay soils across seven distinct blocks, different clonal and rootstock combinations, and an east-facing exposure on the benchlands are just a few reasons this site has earned its well-deserved reputation in Napa Valley.

Though the estate has been farmed since the late 1800s, it was the Phillips family who truly cemented its reputation as a premier source of top-quality Cabernet Sauvignon, starting in the 1950s when Bruce Kelham, maternal grandfather of current owner Bruce Phillips, bought the property.

Replanting in the late 1980s – prompted by the damage wrought by phylloxera and guided by Bruce’s father Bob Phillips – reshaped the vineyard’s structure and solidified its commitment to Cabernet excellence.

‘This is a special place,’ says Bruce. ‘In a single vineyard, we capture the true Oakville character, from plush red fruit, vibrant acidity and silky tannins on the benchlands to deeper blue-fruited notes and more pronounced tannic structure as you move upslope. Along the forest perimeter, the wines develop a savoury complexity. It’s a remarkable expression of site, and we continue to evolve the farming with each vintage to honour it.’

Eyrie

Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Planted area 4.5ha

In the history of American wine, few stories are as bold as that of Eyrie’s original vineyard in Oregon’s Dundee Hills.

Armed with hundreds of grape cuttings and a dream, then 25-year-old David Lett rolled into the Willamette Valley in 1965 and planted the first Vitis vinifera vineyard in the region – unknowingly setting the stage for what may just become the most revered place for American Pinot Noir.

‘When I look at the decisions my dad made at that time, being new to the region, about the best place to plant Pinot Noir here, it’s almost spooky how correct he was,’ says Jason Lett,

David’s son, second-generation grower and winemaker at Eyrie since 2005. The proof is in the vineyard, which has turned out to be a masterclass in precision – currently at 4.5ha, it rises from 80m to 125m and is framed by trees including oak, pine and a Douglas fir where red-tailed hawks nest every year, inspiring the vineyard’s name.

Intentionality has been Eyrie’s guiding principle all along. From the start, the vineyard was organically farmed (certified in 2013) – no irrigation, no herbicides, no shortcuts – long before sustainability was a buzzword in the wine world.

David’s commitment to showcasing the true potential of Oregon Pinot Noir through Eyrie has inspired a generation of growers and winemakers to pursue authenticity in viticulture. ‘Eyrie has this really magical interplay of earthy components, lyrical fruit and a lightness in colour – something that stays true from one vintage to the next,’ Jason says.

Cailloux

Walla Walla Valley, Oregon

Planted area 3.4ha

Cailloux makes a bold first impression, much like vigneron Christophe Baron. When he planted the 4ha plot near Milton-Freewater city in 1997, local scepticism ran high, but Baron’s defiance drove him forward. ‘They called me crazy. Well, they still do,’ he jokes.

Cailloux’s ground is covered with stones (hence the name, from the French); the vines seem to wrestle their way through these cobbles, embodying a struggle that has become the vineyard’s signature.

While there is a little Cabernet Sauvignon (two acres, or 0.8ha) and half as much Viognier, it’s primarily planted with Syrah, which produces wines that are intensely earthy, savoury and unmistakably unique – ‘funky’, many would say. ‘If you want to create a great wine, you must start with a great foundation, a great terroir.

After that, it’s all about how you treat the site,’ explains Baron, who has been farming Cailloux organically since the beginning and pioneered biodynamic practices in Walla Walla in 2002 (certified since 2004).

‘I never used forces of death in my vineyard,’ he adds, referring to herbicides, fungicides and pesticides. ‘He’s created something truly unique. The wines from Cailloux are built to last. It’s undoubtedly a piece of American wine history,’ reflects Linda Milagros, wine director at fine-dining destination Canlis in Seattle.

Boushey

Yakima Valley, Columbia Valley, Washington

Planted area 65ha

Boushey makes a compelling case for the idea that terroir is as much about the hands that shape it as the land itself.

Dick and Luanne Boushey planted their first vines in 1980 on a site that’s layered with silt loam, windblown loess and ancient flood deposits over fractured basalt, all in one of the cooler corners of the Yakima Valley AVA.

Sure, the geology, coupled with the moderate temperatures of the south-facing slopes of the Rattlesnake hills, add to the site’s complexity, but it’s undoubtedly Dick’s unwavering dedication, over a period of more than four decades, that makes Boushey, well, Boushey.

Over the years, the site has earned a reputation for producing some of Washington’s finest Syrahs. The farming appears to be marked by a profound ‘sensitivity to the vines’. ‘He connects with the vines almost on an emotional level,’ observes James Mantone, winemaker at Syncline Winery.

Boushey produces distinctly different fruit from that of the surrounding vineyards – with an elegant umami and cream profile.

‘It’s not as if he’s farming in just one type of soil,’ Mantone continues. ‘As you go up behind his house, you encounter gravelly soils; as you come down, you find more loamy soils. Yet, despite that variation, there’s a consistency – a sort of “Bousheyness”.

Magdalena

Seneca Lake, Finger Lakes, New York

Planted area 5.9ha

The consistent quality of Magdalena vineyard – driven by organic farming and currently transitioning to biodynamics – only strengthens its growing reputation. Magdalena reliably produces wines of distinction and character, regardless of the year’s conditions.

Magdalena’s location on Seneca lake, on a 60ha property about 800m from its western shore, is pivotal to its success.

‘When we started to explore sites in the Finger Lakes, it was based on how warm the site was – not only ripening, but also how warm it is in the winter,’ explains Oskar Bynke, co-owner of Hermann J Wiemer Vineyard. ‘The lake’s airflow protects the vines from frost, making it both a warm site for winter and a ripe one for growing – an ideal combination.’

Planting began in 1999 with Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, followed by Gewürztraminer, Lemberger and Cabernet Franc. The site is now emerging as a standout vineyard for the last of these.

‘The intense afternoon sun, along with the 327 clone of Cabernet Franc – originally from Bordeaux – leads to a more refined profile, highlighting red fruit and floral notes rather than just ripeness,’ says Allison Slute, founder of the Cab Franc Chronicles substack. ‘This unique combination really sets the site apart.

10 wonderful wines from America’s finest vineyards

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The concept of a single vineyard that stands above its peers dates all the way back to Roman times.

The vineyards on Mount Falernus – now known as Monte Massico and situated near Campania’s northern border with Lazio – were even designated into separate growths, or ‘crus’ in today’s terminology.

Such was their reputation that these Falernian wines were mentioned by the poet Horace and in the 1st-century work of Latin fiction Satyricon.

No place has shaped the concept of vineyard expression, however, like Burgundy, where the clos system developed as stone walls were built to protect exceptional vineyards, closing them off from access to animals or passersby (clos as an adjective meaning literally ‘enclosed’).

The first such site, Clos de Vougeot, was established in 1336, in the heart of the vines just outside the village of Vougeot in Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits.

America took a while to come around.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 20 excellent, single-vineyard US Pinot Noirs

Burgundian inspiration

With the 1966 bottling of Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa’s Heitz Cellars released the first wine in the US to specify a vineyard on its label.

These days, with the development of American wine, the concept of place is paramount – those Burgundians were on to something, as no grape seems to show where it’s from the way Pinot Noir does.

‘Pinot Noir is a great storyteller,’ says Marcus Goodfellow of Oregon’s Goodfellow Family Cellars. ‘It shows you everything: the vineyard, certainly, the clone and even how warm our fermentation was. Its transparency can be a blessing and a curse.

The hand of nature

With that, many of America’s great Pinot Noirs are vineyard- or block-designate wines (specifying the source).

These allow winemakers to celebrate a particular set of growing conditions that make for a unique wine that stands alone as a snapshot in time – a picture of a vintage and a very particular place.

Familiarity with a place allows winemakers to further understand what a site gives their wines and how they can learn either to shepherd that process or get out of the way.

‘I think a lot of intuition comes from experiencing seasons within a vineyard from start to finish,’ says Jason Drew of Drew Family Cellars in Mendocino, California.

‘That’s one of the things about living on the property where we’re growing grapes and making wine. You become so in tune with the weather and how a given vintage will impact the wines from this place.’

Whereas blending allows a winemaker to enhance or conceal a wine’s traits, a single-vineyard bottling is an unadorned display of a singular expression.

‘Mother nature is going to win every time,’ says Ernest Vineyards’ winemaker Joseph Ryan. ‘And so there’s a lot of humility. You have to embrace the chaos and the variability, because that’s the only way you’ll make a wine like this.’

‘A single-vineyard wine is about transporting someone,’ says Tracy Kendall, one half of Folly of Man in Willamette Valley, Oregon. ‘It’s as if your feet are in the soil. You’re experiencing the wind that created the tannin structure, the volcanic soil that built a sort of softer mouthfeel, the elegance of that and the red, purple and blue fruits.

‘It’s about experiencing something wholly unique.’

20 excellent, single-vineyard US Pinot Noirs

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While wine writers – yours truly included – have yet to give the final verdict on the 2023 vintage, auction attendees found plenty to be excited about at the live and silent auctions held on 14-15 May, co-hosted by Zachy’s.

One of the seminars hosted on day one, which I moderated, presented some of the Willamette Valley‘s top names in winemaking. Celebrated Chardonnay producer Ken Pahlow of Walter Scott and Antica Terra’s Maggie Harrison, as well as Adelsheim’s Gina Hennen and Daniel Estrin of Cristom, described the growing season and the resulting wines bidders would taste and vie for over the two days.

The new two-day format included consumers by invite, as well as industry buyers. Sparkling wines and single-case bidding increments were also introduced. This year’s event raised an impressive $614,115 through sponsorship, ticket sales and lot sales to support the Willamette Valley Wineries Association’s marketing, branding and education initiatives.

The top lot, which sold for $30,000, was also the final of the two-day affair: Lot #32 from Alexana Winery. Tresider Burns crafted the special, auction-only Pinot Noir from the Alexana Dundee Hills estate.

Included for the winner was ‘The Ultimate Revana Blending Table Experience’. The top bidder would join owner Dr Madaiah Revana and winemakers at both the Willamette Valley’s Alexana Estate and Revana Estate in the Napa Valley at the blending table to create rare bottlings of Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, including dinners and a deep dive into Dr Revana’s considerable personal cellar.

Other highlights and top-selling lots included:

• Lot #24: 2023 Antica Terra Alder Creek Pinot Noir – selling for $25,000
• Lot #18 2023 Bethel Heights Kaleidoscope Chardonnay – which went for $18,000

And from the Online Auction: It Takes A Valley – $10,000. This was a package for four offering rare, behind-the-scenes access to Willamette Valley wine country including vineyard stays, private tastings and immersive winemaker experiences.

The 2023 vintage, marked by a cool start and a relatively rapid and steady growing season, saw healthy yields and moderate alcohol levels. If my early tastings are any indication, it displays a fairly immediate elegance while showing all the markers of ageability.

‘The calibre of wines showcased this year was nothing short of world-class,’ said Joshua Wludyka, auction chair and brand director at Lingua Franca.

‘These wines represent the depth, diversity, and precision of Willamette Valley winemaking — each one a testament to the remarkable talent and terroir of our region. We’re incredibly grateful to the attendees, bidders, and supporters who helped bring this celebration to life.’

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Deep Purple said, ‘April is a cruel time’ in the bizarre 12-minute song, April, the last track on their third album, brilliantly titled Deep Purple III.

Respectfully, I disagree. April can be a great time, as spring brings slumbering greenery to life, and opportunities to visit wine regions, near, like the Dundee Hills and far, like Croatia’s Kvarner region, came my way, I embraced April, despite Deep Purple’s jaded take on the month.

Oh, and New York City was in there too, how can I forget? I was there to promote our New York Fine Wine Encounter, on 7 June. Less than a month away!

Scroll down for scores and reviews of Clive’s selection of wines from his April tastings

Come out to the coast, we’ll have a few laughs

I had got word through the grapevine that the Croatian national government wanted to honour the scribblings of yours truly, so who was I to say no?

All kidding aside, the Croatian tourism board gave me the Gold Pen Award for my coverage of the country’s wines in 2024, so off to Istria I went.

A side journey to the region of Kvarner opened up yet another gem in that country’s fascinating array of growing regions, principally centered around the island of Krk.

I was able to taste and dine with a few of Kvarner’s producers and visit the region’s largest vineyard, planted to Zlahtina. A white indigenous variety. Croatia has over 100 such wine varieties originating in this diverse growing region.

This is a country I’ve been visiting for almost a decade, and I continue to be impressed with the direction the wines are taking. If you’ve never been to Croatia, its food, wine and immense natural beauty are a great reason to visit.

I did a little truffle hunting and sightseeing in a storybook town called Grožjnan, a charming village high in the Istrian hills. Our awards ceremony was held at the Kozlović winery, who make some of the country’s best white wines. It was a whirlwind, but the kind you enjoy.

The Dundee Hills turns 20

The Dundee Hills Winegrowers Association invited me to help them celebrate their 20th birthday. They can legally start drinking their own product next year.

We hosted a panel for consumers and industry members alike to look back at where Oregon Pinot Noir got its start, and forward to the undeniably bright future.

I was joined on the panel by pioneering winegrowing Allen Holstein, second-generation Dundee Hills growers Jesse Lange and Paul Durant and one of the region’s rising stars, winemaker Kate Payne Brown.

Anytime I’m down in the Willamette, I try to schedule a few tastings. For my quick one-day visit, I shoehorned in two exciting stops. First up was Abbott Claim, where the very talented Alban Debeaulieu is making the wines, including my top wine of last year’s Decanter Top 50 US Wines.

I find his 2022 vintage wines, particularly a couple of his Chardonnays, to be exhilarating, as you’ll see below, the Temperance Hill bottling really captivated me.

He also told me about a special project the folks at Abbott Claim are working on. From there, I checked in with Craig Williams of X Novo, the longtime brains behind Joseph Phelps.

He left California behind for the wilds of Oregon. Williams has planted a couple of vineyards in the Eola-Amity Hills from which winemakers are clamouring to source fruit.

The X Omni site, in particular, makes electrifying Chardonnay.

The Big Apple

The last trip of my whirlwind April was New York City for a little event promotion. As the only full-time Decanter person in the country, someone’s gotta do it, and well, that someone is me.

After sharing a natural wine at Frenchette with our columnist Eliza Dumais, I hosted a couple of cool Decanter events. One was a dinner at the famed Carlyle hotel, just across from Central Park, where I highlighted the American wines that were among the top in the 2024 DWWA judging.

They included an array of Chardonnays and a top-rated Pinot Noir, a Best in Show wine from Oregon’s Audeant.

My trip was rounded out by a fantastic tasting at Millesima, where we previewed our Fine Wine Encounter masterclasses from Veuve Cliquot, Biondi Santi and the Rioja DOCa.

I also hit up a few pizza places, including my favourite, Scarr’s. Let’s grab a slice together if you’re coming to our Fine Wine Encounter.

Further highlights

This month, my wine highlights included several bottles from the Willamette Valley. In addition to the Abbott Claim, the 00Wines, X Novo, and Granville bottles were serious standouts.

I was really taken by the Love & Squalor Temperance Hill Pinot Noir. With a little age on it, it’s loaded with elegance.

The 2022 vintage from Reynvaan Family Vineyards, largely in The Rocks District, shows tremendous balance with that regional depth. There were a couple of California wines from Ridge Vineyards and Tablas Creek also got my attention.

You can see all the wines we taste in our Decanter database.

If you don’t subscribe to our weekly US newsletter, you can do so here.

Clive’s selection of 10 top wines from April

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Buy tickets to Decanter Fine Wine Encounter New York

Don and Wendy Lange found a 30-acre (12 ha) parcel on the eastern knoll of the Dundee Hills, which did not become an appellation until 2005. They set down roots, planting their first vines in 1988, and establishing Lange Estate.

The Langes’ journey to become one of the early pieces of the Willamette Valley wine puzzle was a circuitous one.

Scroll down for notes and scores of a deep Lange Estate vertical

Don Lange, originally from Iowa, is an accomplished musician. In his heyday, he collaborated with artists like John Prine, Steve Goodman, and Pete Seeger in Chicago’s vibrant folk music scene of the 1960s and 1970s.

Don was a singer-songwriter before the category had a name, recording three of his own albums and penning songs for a group of successful folk singers.

Relocating to California, Don met Wendy and the two became committed to the notion of making wine. First, they were fixed on Zinfandel before turning their attention to Pinot Noir.

They credit a bottle of Morey St Denis with showing them what wine could really be, and after that, the pair became fixated on where you could make such a wine in the New World.

Don worked at Sanford & Benedict, a Pinot Noir producer that founded the wine industry in Santa Barbara County, when a chance encounter with Oregon Pinot Noir changed everything.

Wendy had raised the idea of Oregon, but they weren’t totally convinced.

A pair of dusty bottles

‘I was grocery shopping,’ says Don about how he discovered the potential for Pinot Noir in Oregon. It was 1987, and Don Lange found two bottles of Oregon Pinot Noir on the bottom shelf of a local grocery store ‘on the mesa in Santa Barbara,’ he says.

The bottles were dusty, ‘they were at least six years old,’ recalls Don.

The two wines presented a lightbulb moment: a 1979 Erath Pinot Noir from the Maresh Vineyard and a 1980 Eyrie Vineyards, both coming from the region’s founding appellation, the Dundee Hills.

There was a phone number on the back of the Erath bottle, and Wendy encouraged Don to reach out. ‘She said, well, just call him up, so I got up from the dinner table and called the number’ he recalls he’d end up speaking to one of the very early pioneers of the Willamette, Dick Erath.

‘Eventually, someone handed him the phone, and Dick was like you should come up. Three weeks later, we were up here.’

Upon arrival, they drove the length of the valley, starting in the far south, before they realised that the region’s wine epicentre was well to the north. The Lange estate vineyard is just a few hills over from the old vine sites responsible for those two bottles.

‘In hindsight, I guess those bottles were pointing the way all along,’ Don says.

The early days of Lange Estate

The Langes discovered the Pinots of Oregon and visited in the spring of 1987; by June, they had moved to the Dundee Hills. ‘We made wine as soon as we got here, from purchased grapes. We just wanted to get a toe hold and get started as soon as we could,’ Don remembers.

They made wine in the basement of the house that first year.

The property they acquired came with six plantable acres (2.5 hectares) below the house, all of it with southeast-facing slopes, which made Don think of the Côte d’Or.

The estate is a combination of Dijon clones and cuttings that Don brought from the Sta Rita site, Bien Nacido.

‘It was really mostly Douglas fir and hazelnut orchards when we got here,’ says Wendy Lange. The Lange family arrived to a nascent industry that was still fighting to be understood.

While they made wine, they managed to cobble together a living. Wendy worked at the Erath tasting room, and Don, who held an MFA degree, taught music at some local community colleges and performed with his guitar in the evenings.

‘There were several challenges, people had no idea how to pronounce Oregon, let alone the fact that we were making fine wines here,’ Don recalls. The Langes credit the hard work and support of the early pioneers for their success.

It was an industry that was built on an ethic of collaboration and cooperation. The early pioneers welcomed the growing winemaking community, sharing their knowledge of the region and learning from each other’s collective successes and failures.

Later down the line, in 1987, the Drouhin family from Burgundy bought some land. The New York Times wrote a story about the Pinot Noir from Ponzi Vineyards in the late 1990s.

People were beginning to take notice, and take Oregon Pinot Noir seriously.

Lange Estate at a glance:

Founded: 1987, first vines planted in 1988

Estate Vineyards: Legacy (original vines), Mia Block, Redside and Lucky River

Winemakers: Jesse Lange, Executive winemaker, Don Lange

Noteworthy wines: Classique Pinot Noir, Freedom Hill Pinot Noir, Lucky River Pinot Noir, Reserve Pinot Gris

A commitment to Pinot Gris

‘We drank some Grigios in Santa Barbara,’ Don recollects, ‘but they were pretty simple wines.’

His impression of the variety changed dramatically upon the Langes’ arrival in Oregon.

‘Eyrie, Ponzi, Adelsheim were making Pinot Gris and those wines really got my attention. Wow, this is different,’ he says.

With freshly planted vines but no fruit, the Langes purchased grapes from their neighbours.

‘There was a vineyard, just over those trees,’ Don says, motioning to the east. ‘They asked if we were interested in buying any Pinot Gris, and I said, of course.’

‘He put that in puncheons, and so we were the first to make barrel fermented Pinot Gris in the country,’ adds Jesse.

Even as much of the Willamette has shifted to focus on Chardonnay, Lange, along with Eyrie and Ponzi in particular, remain at the forefront of a serious, ageworthy style of Oregon Pinot Gris.

The second generation

As the second generation, Jesse Lange joined the family business in 2004. As affable a winemaker as you’ll meet, Jesse is fully engaged in both the family estate and the success of the Dundee Hills appellation.

‘We’re a 40-year, overnight success,’ says Jesse about the well-earned reputation of the wines of the Dundee Hills.

At the same time, Don and Wendy still play a significant role as the ‘consulting winemakers’, with 40 years of experience at the estate.

Jesse has brought a considerable technical wine background back to the family estate after stints in Santa Barbara and New Zealand.

The holdings have grown from the original 30 acres to 60 planted acres (36ha) in the Dundee Hills. The Langes recently acquired the Lucky River vineyard, an additional 65-acre site.

The Pinot Noirs are considerable examples of Classic Willamette Valley, aligned with Don’s mantra of, ‘balance, structure and texture. Wines that you take to the table,’ to hear Don say it.

They are evocative of place and a winemaking acumen that has been learned and transmitted over the years in the Dundee Hills.

The Pinot Gris remains among the best examples in the Willamette Valley.

Lange Estate vertical

Wines are listed in vintage order from oldest to youngest

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Chardonnay from Oregon’s Dundee Hills

Women were at the helm of the American wineries in the nascent days of fine wine in Napa Valley. Josephine Tychson founded what is today Freemark Abbey in 1886, and her contemporary Hannah Weinberger became the first recognised woman winemaker in Napa after her husband died in 1882.

Despite those early pioneers, the industry still has progress to make in terms of opportunities for women.

According to research conducted at Santa Clara University in 2020, only 14% of 4,200 wineries in California had women in head winemaker roles. This number has grown only slightly since the same study was conducted in 2011.

Historically, women only became winemakers after their husband’s death or when they were working alongside them. Mary Ann Graf was The first woman to receive an oenology degree from UC Davis in 1965. However, many have followed in her footsteps.

Progress has been made in the last two decades, including more women in industry-wide operations. Organisations like Bâtonnage and Oregon’s Women in Wine support women in wine with mentorship, community building, and job resources. However, there isn’t enough research focusing on the progress and the impact.

‘Any time we operate with poor or incomplete data, we cannot properly identify or solve problems,’ says Amy Bess Cook, the founder of Women-Owned Wineries. ‘When it comes to the topic of women in wine, information has long been lacking.

‘Until institutions invest greater resources to more seriously study the matter, we can only cherry-pick statistics and speculate on the state of women in the industry.’

Changing perceptions

Cambria Estate Winery in the Santa Maria Valley is a rare winery, almost entirely founded and operated by women. This created the most understanding environment for Jill Russell to grow as a winemaker. However, outside of Cambria, challenges remain.

‘Before, I just wanted to be known as a winemaker. I didn’t like being titled as a female winemaker. But as I’ve been travelling in this role to other states and markets, everyone was surprised that I am a female.

‘I realised that I do need to talk about this. I might bring my husband to a pouring event, and if he is standing next to me, everyone thinks he is the winemaker just because he is a man. It happens when I am with a male coworker as well.’

Kristy Melton, the winemaker of Freemark Abbey, optimistically points out that society is becoming more open to the idea. ‘When I was in my early 30s and earlier in my career, men maybe didn’t think I could do it, or society wasn’t used to the notion, and I would get, you know, unusual comments from consumers or vineyard workers. But those are becoming fewer and fewer. The notion of being a female winemaker is less novel. But there is still a lot of work to be done.’

Balancing a demanding career and being a mother

Harvest is the most demanding period in winemaking and the most challenging for those women winemakers who decided to become mothers.

Winemaking, in general, is not the ideal profession where work hours and family life can be balanced. Many winemakers rely on help from their partners and families to balance it all, while some choose to leave their careers and raise their children.

‘The wine industry wasn’t exactly supportive at the time when I started my family,’ says Sarah Wuethrich, the winemaker at Maggy Hawk. ‘It wasn’t supportive of navigating new motherhood and a career in wine.

‘I think quite a few women step away because it’s just too overwhelming. The demand of trying to prove your physical aptitude constantly, and if you’re in a higher position, if you’re already established as a winemaker, the demand for travelling and representing your brand while being away from home and your family takes a toll.’

Kate Ayres, the winemaker at Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, says, ‘I am lucky enough to work in a position where I am home to feed my children and put them to bed. But then we rely heavily on family, and there’s a portion of their existence where we are just sort of absentee parents. My five-year-old says, okay, harvest is coming. That means you and Dad are not around a lot!’

Ayres adds, ‘When I look back, I now understand why the same women that I love and respect in this industry right now stepped away while their kids were young and then got back into the industry. I think those times have changed, and now I look at my fellow women up here in Oregon, and we all have small children and hold leadership positions. It’s amazing that in 20 years, the industry has changed this much.’

Making every voice matter

Before moving to the United States and becoming the winemaker at Matanzas Creek Winery in 2010, Marcia Torres Forno remembers how almost impossible it was for a woman to be a winemaker in her homeland, Chile, where they weren’t even allowed to be in the vineyards.

In Napa Valley, she is deeply involved in every aspect of the craft, employing a responsive winemaking program which combines traditional and innovative techniques.

‘The way we used to manage employees was from the top down,’ says Torres Forno. ‘Now, I appreciate that we are asked for our input to find a solution. You can capture much more when you include people who are actually doing the job.

‘Being considered for our merits and our strength is the right way to do things rather than being considered by gender. When that happens, we will know that we really have made progress.’

Sarah Wuethrich, of Maggy Hawk, thinks that women are better positioned to get into the ‘felt’ aspects of wine and can connect with consumers differently.

‘I think we are very closely tied to their emotional side, and to me, that’s the role that we can maybe inject into this industry. As we know, we are potentially losing a consumer base, there are drops in sales, people are ripping out vineyards… We need to meet consumers where they are.’

Wuethrich adds, ‘There is much more to wine than just talking about the facts and figures; we sometimes miss that. We need to return to a more intangible approach to provide wine as an experience that connects people.’

Keeping legacies alive

In California, winemaking became popular in the 1960s and 70s, with only a handful of women involved. Only three women have been inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame, including Merry Edwards, whose legacy is in Heidi von der Mehden’s caring hands since her retirement in 2020.

‘As with many male-dominated fields, lack of visible role models in the winery industry can contribute to under-representation of women,’ says von der Mehden.

‘This makes it difficult for aspiring female winemakers to envision possibilities for their career. My personal goal is to help build connections for women in wine through networking and collaboration and to encourage more women to pursue wine production in particular,’ von der Mehden adds.

‘I think about Josephine Tychson every day,’ says Freemark Abbey’s Melton, who keeps the flame alive for this pioneer of women-owned wineries.

‘I have a photo of her in my office, so she is the first thing I see when I walk in to remind me that if she could make the winery work on a tough day without all of the modern luxuries and convenience we have, then I certainly can make it work too. It’s my responsibility to continue her legacy and create a new one for women as we move forward.’

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In 2020, Decanter contributor Elin McCoy interviewed David Duncan – proprietor of Silver Oak, Twomey, OVID Napa Valley, and Timeless – profiling the iconic Silver Oak label.

In her feature, McCoy observed that the most recent vintages seemed, ‘less oaky and more lifted, promising a strong future direction’.

In the five years since, the Duncan family has navigated a series of significant changes across their properties and brands, including the acquisition of OVID Napa Valley, the launch of a new label, Timeless, an expansion into Oregon, and the first releases of wines crafted at their new Alexander Valley winery.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for a deep vertical of Silver Oak wines

Taking stock

In early 2025, the family made the decision to close two tasting rooms associated with the Twomey brand.

David Duncan said of the closures: ‘In response to a decline in winery visitation in California, we have made the difficult decision to adjust our operations by closing two of our three Twomey tasting rooms. All our Twomey wineries and the flagship tasting room in Healdsburg remain open.’

Over the past 14 months, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the Duncan family on several occasions, particularly with Matt Duncan, son of proprietor Tim Duncan (David’s brother).

In doing so I’ve been able to taste through Silver Oak’s wines in a more natural setting – over meals, as they were meant to be enjoyed – rather than in the sometimes clinical environment of a professional tasting.

One such occasion, at Tim’s home in Sonoma, saw us opening bottles of 1975, 1978, and 1991 Alexander Valley Cabernets alongside the 1984, 1985, and 1991 Napa Valley Cabernets.

Every wine was alive and expressive, rich in minerality, with layers of bacon fat, truffle, and cigar box character. But the 1991 Alexander Valley and 1985 Napa Cabernet were simply extraordinary – balanced, detailed, and utterly thrilling to drink.

To me, this tasting was undeniable proof that Silver Oak’s wines are cellarworthy, meticulously crafted, and far more compelling than some critics have given them credit for.

And the future is bright.

Debut of the 2017s, land grabs, and growth

In 2020, Silver Oak was releasing its 2015 and 2016 vintages. The first Alexander Valley Cabernet produced at its new LEED Platinum-certified and Living Building-certified Alexander Valley winery was the 2017 vintage, which debuted in 2021.

As of this writing, they have released all vintages up to the 2020s.

From a winemaking perspective, David Duncan explains: ‘We were able to get granular in how we bring the fruit in. We considered every detail – how the fermentation is done, what happens when we press off the skins, the size of vessels needed from one tank to the next, how we handle malolactic fermentation, the transition to barrel, and even the barrel storage room. Everything was purposefully designed, and we only make one wine here.’

Additionally, the Duncan family has acquired more land. Today, they own just over 1,000 acres (404ha) across Napa Valley, Alexander Valley, and Oregon, with just under 800 acres planted with vineyards that are shared between Silver Oak, Twomey, and OVID.

Metamorphosis

In 2024, the family harvested their first crop from new plantings at OVID. ‘It’s taken us seven years to realise the vineyard’s potential, but it’s now in full production, and it’s spectacular,’ says Duncan.

‘What Austin Peterson has achieved there is amazing. The vineyard is pristine, down to the evenness of the shoots, canopy, and fruit crop.’

As with Silver Oak, by 2019, estate-grown fruit had expanded significantly. ‘We’ve gone from 25% estate fruit to 75% estate fruit,’ Duncan continues, though he notes they’ll never reach 100% because of ‘the incredible grower-partners we have, with amazing vineyard sites’.

Duncan also reflects on the family’s approach to ownership and growth in the years since his father, Ray – who co-founded Silver Oak with Justin Meyer – passed away.

‘My brothers and I own the wineries under one family entity. After we bought Justin out, we needed financing. When my dad passed, we had to secure funding to hold onto the winery. While we do have a financial partner with an ownership stake, we’re fully in control of our destiny.’

He adds: ‘We built the Alexander Valley winery with the intent to increase production because of demand. That growth requires capital. It’s not the romantic farmer side of the business, but it’s been a great deal for us. The Duncan family is still 100% here.’

A single vineyard wine

The Duncan family debuted a brand-new single-vineyard red wine, Timeless Napa Valley, in late 2020 with the release of the 2017 vintage.

‘As we started acquiring Pinot vineyards with Twomey in Oregon, I began thinking about our Soda Canyon estate in Napa, which we’ve owned since 1999,’ says Duncan.

‘I had the idea to create a blend entirely from Soda Canyon. We trialled it in 2017, and we loved it. We selected some of the top lots,’ he adds, noting that these lots would normally have gone into Silver Oak. ‘We also replanted 4.9ha of the vineyard, removing Merlot and planting more Cabernet.’

They produce just a few thousand cases, making it a creative outlet for the winemaking team. ‘There are no rules for the blend,’ says Duncan.

‘We put together the most exciting combination of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc from the vintage. It’s an expression of the Soda Canyon site in any given year, and we age the wine in French oak – not American oak.’

Oregon Trail

The Duncans’ exploration into Pinot Noir began with the founding of Twomey in 2002, focusing on Russian River Valley and Anderson Valley.

In 2017, they purchased the late Dick Erath’s 24.3ha vineyard in the hills west of Dundee, Oregon.

Planted in 1983, the vineyard features 14.6ha of vines rooted in well-drained, volcanic silty clay loam Jory soils. Initially bottled under the Twomey label, the Duncans introduced their first standalone wine from the site in 2022 with the debut of Prince Hill Pinot Noir.

Today, this wine is produced at a custom crush facility in McMinnville, Oregon, directed by Chris Burrough, who works on blending with Justin Hirigoyen. They make around 400–500 cases of the Dundee Pinot Noir.

In addition to Pinot Noir, they also produce a Chardonnay under the Prince Hill label, sourced from the grower-partner Carella Vineyard.

In future, there will be no more Twomey Oregon bottlings under the original label. Looking ahead, Duncan envisions building a winery on the Prince Hill estate.

Silver Oak: The evolution of a Californian icon

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As you can no doubt imagine, our editorial team receive lots of wines for review.

It was a banner February for me. With very little travel, I found myself tasting a lot of wine – nearly 250 different wines from the West Coast in fact, the vast majority of which were from Washington and Oregon.

In addition to the virtual tastings, including an Instagram live with Ross Cobb of Sonoma Coast’s Cobb Wines and countless bottles opened at home, I was able to make a few visits to vineyards and cellars from Red Mountain, to Walla Walla and a couple of stops in the Willamette Valley.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of Clive’s selection of wines from his February tastings

One of the most iconic wine growers in the Pacific Northwest is Dick Boushey, and I paid him a visit in the Yakima Valley.

Over dinner we tasted a variety of Boushey Vineyard designates, showing the tremendous terroir and remarkable Syrah that comes from those hallowed vines in Grandview, Washington.

In Walla Walla, I was able to check in with Chris Figgins of the region’s stalwart brand, Leonetti. I also managed cellar visits to Valdemar Estates, which is doing exciting things with new vineyards, and Grosgrain, a wildly popular Walla Walla brand that’s thinking a bit outside the box.

Grosgrain has brought Washington wine drinkers Lemberger Pét Nat, the state’s first Ribolla and a delicious skin contact Sémillon bottling, which I really enjoyed. You’ll see more below.

Meeting a legend

In the Willamette Valley, I finally connected with living legend David Adelsheim, who has been vital to the region’s success since he first put down roots at his original vineyard in 1972. We talked about the early days of the Oregon wine industry and if he ever imagined what it has become.

I also tasted with several winemakers, including stops at Willakenzie Estate, Penner-Ash and Open Claim, as well as an exciting chance to meet with Junichi Fujita, who has a fascinating vineyard project in the works in the McMinnville AVA.

Below, you’ll find a selection of 10 of the most interesting wines I’ve tasted in February, with their reviews and scores.

I was bowled over by the Crowley Chardonnay ‘Phoebe’ from the Four Winds estate. This was my first experience with the wine, and it is an impressive expression of site and continues to show the capacity of the Willamette Valley to make some of the world’s greatest Chardonnay. I said what I said.

From Red Mountain, the Domaine Magdalena Cabernet Sauvignon from the biodynamic estate is a deliciously fresh and balanced bottle from the very hot appellation.

The wines of Delmas continue to impress me, and The Peddler in magnum only from the 2021 vintage was showing The Rocks District terroir at its finest, balancing savoury and umami depth with great freshness.

You can see all the wines we taste in our Decanter database.

If you don’t subscribe to our weekly US newsletter, you can do so here.

Clive’s selection of top wines from February

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Cristaldi: The evolution of Silver Oak

The 2014 vintage in Washington State marked the beginning of evident warming trends in the region and beyond. It was a growing season that would break records for heat, but those records would be surpassed just a year later in the record-shattering 2015 vintage.

For those who cellared wines from the 2014 vintage in the Columbia Valley, now is the time to open them. In the words of Kenny Rogers, knowing when to hold them and when to fold them is key when it comes to cellaring wines.

While some 2014 bottles show exceptionally well, others definitely show their age. I don’t anticipate waiting will improve these wines.

Given the growing season and owing to the low natural acidity and the hot conditions, the longevity of these wines is likely limited to the next few years, with a couple of exceptions from the wines I tasted.

Scroll down for Clive’s scores and notes on 2014 wines from the Columbia Valley

The early reporting from Washington and Oregon in 2014 was an abundance of satisfaction, with winemakers quoted as citing ‘perfect chemistry’ and ‘even ripeness’ across varieties in the immediate aftermath of harvest.

There were also cautious voices concerned about the high temperatures and what that might mean for the future.

Pepper Bridge winemaker, Swiss-born Jean-François Pellet, found the heat concerning.

‘2014 was a challenging year,’ Pellet recalled. ‘It was so hot in August that we were sure we’d have to harvest early. However, it got so hot that the vineyard actually shut down. It was the hottest late August that I’ve ever seen here in Walla Walla.’

The heat is on

While spring was cool and dry, things heated up quickly in May, with high temperatures tracking at 15-20° above normal for much of the month. Compared to the prior vintage, things tracked similarly until it got very hot in June and July when ripening and veraison started happening well ahead of average.

According to Washington Wine Commission’s 2014 vintage overview: ‘July in Prosser (in the Yakima Valley) was the warmest on record, according to Washington State University (WSU).

‘For the season, WSU’s Prosser weather station recorded 3,092 Growing Degree Days (GDD)—a measure of heat accumulation—compared to a historical average of 2,627. Most Eastern Washington WSU weather stations also reported heat accumulation in excess of 3,000 GDD, quite warm for the state.

‘Meanwhile, Red Mountain, typically Washington’s warmest area, recorded a whopping 3,599 GDD, numbers more often associated with some areas of the Napa Valley,’ the report concluded.

‘2014 was definitely a warm year,’ says Ben Smith of Red Mountain’s Cadence. ‘It was also the first year for our new vineyard manager. He was caught out a little by how much water the vineyard required, so our canopies were pretty sparse.

‘It meant we had to dial back yields to match. We didn’t have to worry about berry size and could pour water on fairly regularly during August and early September, giving the vines a nice cool break and preventing any heat stress.’

A memorable year

Speaking to Adam Tolliver, winemaker at Corliss, it was indeed a memorable year. ‘The consistent above-average temperatures throughout all four seasons stuck with me,’ he recalls.

‘We experienced a dry, warmer-than-average winter followed by a gorgeous spring, both of which caused the vines to wake up and experience an early bud break.’

He continues: ‘The warmth continued, resulting in an even earlier bloom and veraison than we typically see. The temperatures spiked in July and August, and with prolonged temperatures above 95 degrees (35°C), vines began to shut down to conserve energy and protect themselves.

‘This slowed down the ripening of our grapes and allowed longer hang time and better flavour development. The key to avoiding detrimental damage in the intense heat was proper cluster shading in the fruiting zone and a lot of water through irrigation to cool and keep the vine hydrated.’

Crafting age-worthy wines in a hot vintage

So, how are winemakers approaching their craft when the temperatures soar, and most importantly, how are they crafting wines that their customers can cellar?

Red Mountain, where Corliss grows its vines, is Washington’s hottest appellation, and so vineyard management is essential if there is any hope in making a balanced, age-worthy wine.

Tolliver explains: ‘The success of the vintage started in the vineyard. We opened the interior canopy for good airflow while keeping the exterior fruiting zone shaded to protect the grapes from sunburn and shrivelling.

‘In addition, we do not focus on yield but on the quality of the fruit on the vine, thus dropping clusters that show signs of heat damage. When the fruit is harvested and enters the doors of the winery, it is then meticulously sorted, both clusters and berries, ensuring only the most balanced and uniform fruit enters the fermentation vessels.

He concludes: ‘If the starting product in the tank is exceptional, then you already have 9/10ths of the battle won.’

Time to drink up

For Pepper Bridge’s Pellet, a winemaker who knows the vineyard has the best chance. ‘We use the same blocks, so I know them well. It comes down to picking time, and you have to manage extraction.

‘Many wines are made to drink right away, and that’s okay. You have to make wines that are drinkable; they improve in three to five years, but after 10 years, often wines from hot regions don’t hold on as well.

‘As a result, many of my colleagues in Washington are making wines that are best to drink now,’ he says.

‘This is my dilemma,’ says winemaker Dan Wampler of Walla Walla’s Abeja. ‘How do I make an ageable wine in a hot region? We have made some changes in farming and production to make wines that are ready to go now but can also age. Walla Walla is hot, but compared to other parts of Washington, it’s far from the hottest, which certainly helps us.’

For many of these wines, time has brought out secondary characteristics, and for a few, notably the Corliss and Horse Power Syrah, they are really only beginning to show themselves.

2014 in the Columbia Valley: A look back

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Sonoma County: 2021 vintage report

Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing/a>

Decanter’s expert writers and contributors awarded 95-points or more to almost 3,000 wines in the 12 months to October 2024.

While they have all appeared in the pages of Decanter magazine and online on Decanter Premium and in our decanter.com database, there were too many to reproduce here for a seasonal wrap-up.

So, in a somewhat unfair and very challenging task, we asked each of our Regional Editors to select just five wines from each of their key areas of expertise to highlight the bounty and diversity on offer across the world wine map.

Scroll down for notes and scores of the US Wines of the Year 2024

Napa Valley

In Napa, we’re seeing shifts in styles. As climate change pushes ripeness, winemakers are moving towards fresher wine styles.

From Jonathan Cristaldi, two 100-point wines made the cut. He was bowled over by the Ad Vivum, Sleeping Lady Cabernet Sauvignon from longtime Napa Valley winemaker Chris Phelps, as well as the 2021 Ovid red.

Freshness and elegance carried the day in our selections, as Lokoya’s Mount Veeder Cabernet showed great balance and vitality, with classic wild mountain fruits and a floral elegance framed in its aromatic intensity. A true wine of place.

One of my favourite Napa winemakers is Steve Matthiasson, and Cristaldi and I agreed on his Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet. Its purity and precision are worthy of the 99-points it was awarded in Cristaldi’s 2021 Napa Valley vintage report.

Matthiasson skilfully frames the terroir of his dry-farmed, organic Cabernet vines in wines that are light, floral and evocative of Nebbiolo.

Finally, the 2021 Stony Hill Chardonnay, from the producer’s timeless Spring Mountain estate, stood out among the California Chardonnays I featured in our August issue.

America’s first cult winery has stood as a bulwark against passing fads and Chardonnays of oaky opulence. A wine of finesse and intricacy truly worthy of its wine of the year status.

US West Coast beyond Napa

American wine keeps getting better, in Napa and beyond.

With nearly 3,000 wines tasted and reviewed just since January 2024, there were many tough choices to be made. As the selection shows, there is quality up and down the West Coast.

The 2021 Due North Pinot Noir from Abbott Claim was the best wine that I tasted myself in 2024, meeting winemaker Alban Debeaulieu in the cave at the Oregon winery for my feature in the May issue. This shows the Willamette Valley’s stripes, as one of the world’s greatest Pinot Noir growing regions.

On a visit to Walla Walla, in Washington state, it was Corliss Estate – which actually has all of its estate vineyards on Red Mountain – that stunned me with its balanced blend. Cabernet Franc leads the way here and offers great bay leaf and eucalyptus elegance and a brilliant graphite minerality against the powerful fruit of Red Mountain.

A standout from my Sonoma Coast 2021 vintage report is one of my top wines of the year, Occidental’s Running Fence Cuvée Catherine: an elegant Pinot Noir from a vintage that played into the hands of some of Sonoma’s top winemakers.

Truthfully, a few wines from that report could easily have made the cut here. There are two top wines from California’s Central Coast regions as well: Pinot Noir from the classic producer Au Bon Climat and one of Edna Valley’s iconic Syrahs from Alban, each earning a 98-point score.

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Bordeaux & Burgundy | Champagne, Rhône and regional France | Italy | Spain & Portugal | South America | Australia, New Zealand & South Africa | Rest of the World

Wines of the Year 2024: The US

Wines are listed white then red, in score order

Related articles

• Oregon vintage report: Willamette Valley 2022
• Sonoma County: 2021 vintage report
• Columbia Valley 2021 vintage report

Rollin Soles got the ball rolling on sparkling wine at Oregon’s Argyle back in 1987. Who knows if – more than three decades ago – he could have foreseen the growth and quality of the wine style’s production in the Willamette Valley.

There are now around 100 sparkling producers in the valley, based on self-reporting to the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, and that number seems to grow by the week.

A sparkling sweet spot

Oregon’s reputation for fantastic wines is built on the varieties of Burgundy, which, it turns out, are partly the same as Champagne. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay do so well in Oregon; so perhaps naturally, sparkling wine has sparked serious interest from Oregon’s winemakers.

‘I think that the Willamette Valley’s potential for high-quality sparkling is a pretty natural outcome for a region already producing spectacular Pinot Noir and Chardonnay,’ says WillaKenzie Estate winemaker Erik Kramer.

‘Oregon has an ideal climate for growing grapes for sparkling wines,’ says Rachel Healow, associate winemaker for the sparkling house, Argyle. ‘Because sparkling grapes are harvested at lower ripeness, making sparkling wine allows us to begin our harvest season earlier, in the late summer. The cool nights and mornings create ideal conditions for retaining acid – vital to our sparkling wines.’

Scroll down for scores and reviews for Oregon Sparkling wines for NYE

Talent bubbles over

In addition to the right conditions, the talent is here, a vital part of any fine wine region’s success.

‘I think Oregon is one of the most exciting places to make wine right now,’ says Bryn Mawr Vineyards winemaker Rachel Rose. ‘This has attracted a considerable amount of talent and winemakers with significant technical skill. The sparkling wine producers I know use high-quality parcels of land, farm their fruit with exceptional precision, and spare no expense in the pursuit of making the best wine possible.’

‘Having a degree of intentionality built into the vision for a high-quality sparkling programme is essential,’ says WillaKenzie’s Kramer. ‘In other words, working with appropriate vineyard locations, farming intentionally for sparkling, and having a clear stylistic vision can tee a wine up for success from inception.’

A radiant future

While he has no interest in taking credit for anyone’s wine, Radiant Sparkling Wine Company owner Andrew Davis is a big part of the sparkling renaissance in the Willamette Valley. Davis contracts with small and not-so-small producers and provides the niche and often prohibitively expensive equipment that has allowed several wineries to begin experimenting and perfecting their own sparkling production.

Davis started Radiant in the spring of 2014 and has grown up to 36 clients he works with from start to finish, along with another dozen or so he helps with parts of the process, like disgorgement.

After getting his sparkling-wine-focused oenology degree in New Zealand, Davis returned to Oregon, where he began his undergraduate studies and was soon making wine alongside Rollin Soles, Oregon’s bubbly pioneer at Argyle. Over the years, Davis received many requests for help making bubbles: ‘No one had the special machinery required because the production was so small, so I sort of risked everything on Radiant and hoped the valley would support it.’

Sure enough, the response has been overwhelming.

‘The potential here is tremendous,’ Davis says. ‘For every iconic Old World region, there is a New World region standing toe to toe with it. For Cabernet, you think of Bordeaux but also Napa Valley. For Burgundy, I think of the Willamette Valley; many people would say Central Otago. However, no one has really challenged Champagne, but I think the Willamette Valley can do that.’

‘Quite simply, we’re cooler in the Willamette Valley than Champagne is these days. Things have warmed up there, and the night-time temperatures aren’t getting down to where they really want them. They’re struggling to keep their acidities up. We don’t have that problem at all. I’m actually nudging people to pick a little bit later, in some cases when we’re seeing ripping acidities.’

The virtue of patience

The Willamette Valley’s sparkling wines are second to none from my broader tastings when it comes to US regions producing the style. The ripeness is there, and the freshness is undeniable, giving a balance between fruit, minerality and a bright, fresh finish. Demand is high, and winemakers can disgorge on demand and sell out of it almost immediately.

However, as winemakers seek to elevate the sparkling wines and the region, extended tirage (lees ageing) is coming to the fore.

‘When the vision for WillaKenzie Estate’s Éclatant Brut was first conceptualised, it was pretty clear that we were going for a minimum of four years en tirage [ageing on the lees] from the outset,’ explains Kramer.

‘The initial concept for our Éclatant Brut was to bottle non-vintage with 10-15% of the blend being made up of a reserve component.

‘The wines are more complex and interesting, [due to] a portion of the blend coming from the reserve. The Éclatant Brut that will be disgorged in the summer of 2025 has a reserve component of 11% and will have been en tirage for four years.’

‘To me, as these wines age en tirage, those autolytic ageing characteristics, which people associate with the finer Champagne, really show beautifully in the wines from the Willamette Valley. These wines will get serious critical attention,’ said Davis.

Oregon sparkling wines to try: A dozen bottles to pop on NYE

Related articles

• Sparkling wines of the Americas: Panel tasting results
• Top-rated American sparkling wines for New Year’s Eve
• Expert’s Choice: American sparkling wines

Top Wines of the Year lists are far from novel, with most major publications compiling a list of their various takes on a ‘Top 100’ wines tasted in a given year. They may elicit controversy and second-guessing; but you know what they say about opinions, after all.

In my second year in this role, as our US coverage has continued to expand, it felt important to find a way to emphasise our commitment to both the depth and breadth of US wine.

In 2024, we’ve featured vintage reports from both the Sonoma Coast and Sonoma County separately, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley that spans both Washington and Oregon.

Of course, we covered Napa, Paso Robles, New York State, and, for the first time, the Anderson Valley on California’s northernmost coast.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of the Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part three

I made the final ranking decisions, and I’ve personally tasted most, but not all, of these wines, even if I haven’t scored them myself. I recognise that it’s not perfect, but I feel like it’s a great start for us, a very small team on this side of the pond.

My hope is that you may discover a new producer or three and enjoy exploring this list as much as I did putting it together.

These wines I feel are the best wines we tasted all year, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Our top 10 wines include five from Napa Valley and five from the West Coast, reflecting our selections for Decanter‘s Wines of the Year.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 10-6

Tasting notes and scores are below

10: Au Bon Climat, Larmes De Grappe, Sta Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California 2021

9: Alban, Reva Syrah, Edna Valley, Central Coast, California 2019

8: Matthiasson, Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2021

7: Lokoya, Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2021

6: Stony Hill, Chardonnay, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain, California 2021

Here are a few wines I’d like to highlight.

8: Matthiasson, Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2021

Steve Matthiasson is a living winegrowing legend in Napa Valley. He and his wife Jill’s approach to winemaking takes a similar philosophy. His single vineyard, Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, is a crystalline interpretation of his farming philosophy in bottle. Pure, precision and unbelievably pretty. This was one of our Napa correspondent Jonathan Cristaldi’s top selections of the 2021 vintage. ‘This is super light and floral-driven,’ Cristaldi claimed, ‘and more like a Nebbiolo. It’s aged in foudre to preserve the fresh fruit quality. Multiple picks ensure ripeness and some are whole cluster pressed. It’s so pretty and pure it’s almost like mineral water that’s been flavoured. The wine has a natural grip and is laser-focused and linear. It is the epitome of elegance.’

6: Stony Hill, Chardonnay, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain, California 2021

In the August issue of Decanter, I wrote a story about a collection of wines that defy the stereotypes about ‘California Chardonnay‘. No wine is better positioned to do so, than the Chardonnay from Stony Hill, a California original. While the Montelena Chardonnay helped put California on the map, the Stony Hill Chardonnay was Napa’s first cult wine. A standard bearer for the region, it’s been a classic forever. This 2021 bottling is ethereal and intense.is an impeccable Chardonnay. Intricate floral aromatics are buoyed by savoury lemon oil and a note of tarragon. The palate shows finesse and focus as filigreed ocean saline minerality frames textures of lemon curd, beeswax and peach skin.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 5-1

Tasting notes and scores are below

5: Ovid, Napa Valley, California 2021

4: Corliss Estate, Red Wine, Red Mountain, Washington 2019

3: Occidental, Running Fence Vineyard Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2021

2: Ad Vivum, Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville, Napa Valley, California 2021

1: Abbott Claim, Due North Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2021

3: Occidental, Running Fence Vineyard Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2021

A singular, standout wine from my time tasting on the Sonoma Coast.Named for Stephen Kistler’s daughter Catherine, who is the assistant winemaker. This wine was tasted from bottle #C1111. It’s a soulful hedonism in the bottle. The aromas show a real pungency of forest scents and feral wildness of turned earth; smoked sea salt and soy mark the aromas, followed by a smouldering flint minerality. There is a depth to the palate; a smoky richness melds into sappy blackberries and tangy notes of soy and hoisin. This wine dances between the elegance of its florality and earthen mineral core framed by a herbal tone of wild anise and chicory root. It’s truly glorious.

2: Ad Vivum, Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville, Napa Valley, California 2021

Our man in Napa, Cristaldi gushed over the Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet from Ad Vivum. He called it ‘an elegant, polished, and seamless Cabernet Sauvignon from longtime Napa Valley winemaker Chris Phelps. It possesses an ethereal quality, an almost weightlessness, but contains multitudes. I tasted it on three separate occasions and one bottle over a three-day period. It was still vibrant and full of life on day three, and that is the mark of a classic.

1: Abbott Claim, Due North Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2021

It’s number one, baby! An Oregon Pinot Noir like no other from the 2021 vintage. In a region that is renowned for wines of elegance and depth, this effort from winemaker Alban Debeaulieu really stood out. Debeaulieu was featured in my feature West Coast: The New Vanguard from our May issue, and he and I tasted this wine together in January at the Yamhill-Carlton estate. I was immediately smitten by its clarity of place, precision and focus.

From Pommard clone vines on a north-facing block cooled by a wind that blows through the site, only about 7% whole-cluster fermentation in an oak vat, followed by 18 months in 70% new French oak barrels. Pungent aromatics of violets and turned earth, gorgeous blue fruits, mushrooms. It’s gloriously charming, and the texture is wholly of elegance and delicacy. Soy and smoked sea salt concentrated wild bramble fruits. The most complete Pinot Noir effort I tasted from the Willamette Valley in 2021.

Top 50 US Wines 2024: How the selections were made

The selections for Decanter’s Top 50 US wines were chosen from the over 3,000 wines tasted and reviewed between January and November of 2024. To be considered, they must be current or soon-to-be-released wines; library wines are not eligible.

They were selected to show a range of styles, places and exciting and emerging winemaking talent. This is not intended to be a list of the top-scoring wines of the year but wines that show the brilliance and diversity of America’s winemaking talents and regions.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part three 10-1

Wines are listed in reverse order from 10 to 1

Related articles

Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buyer’s guide to the vintage’s finest wines

Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

Paso Robles 2022 vintage: Best wines from a challenging year

Top Wines of the Year lists are far from novel, with most major publications compiling a list of their various takes on a ‘Top 100’ wines tasted in a given year. They may elicit controversy and second-guessing; but you know what they say about opinions, after all.

In my second year in this role, as our US coverage has continued to expand, it felt important to find a way to emphasise our commitment to both the depth and breadth of US wine.

In 2024, we’ve featured vintage reports from both the Sonoma Coast and Sonoma County separately, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley that spans both Washington and Oregon.

Of course, we covered Napa, Paso Robles, New York State, and, for the first time, the Anderson Valley on California’s northernmost coast.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of the Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part two

I made the final ranking decisions, and I’ve personally tasted most, but not all, of these wines, even if I haven’t scored them myself. I recognise that it’s not perfect, but I feel like it’s a great start for us, a very small team on this side of the pond.

My hope is that you may discover a new producer or three and enjoy exploring this list as much as I did putting it together.

Our grouping of the second 20 wines on our list includes several American Syrahs, a variety that people should absolutely get excited about.

From California’s Paso Robles to Santa Barbara County, The Rocks District on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley, and an iconic Yakima Valley vineyard in Washington state. Syrah shows terroir in ways that many varieties do not, and American winemakers are making it sing.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 30-21

Tasting notes and scores are below

30: Ernest Vineyards, Cleary Ranch Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

29: Ambar Estate, Lustral Chardonnay, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

28: Saxum, Bone Rock James Berry Vineyard Syrah, Willow Creek, Paso Robles, California 2020

27: Harlan Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, California 2021

26: Fingers Crossed, Syrah, Santa Barbara County, California 2021

25: Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

24: Eyrie Vineyards, South Block Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2019

23: Arnot-Roberts, Que Syrah, Sonoma Coast, California 2021

22: Hundred Suns, Own Rooted Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

21: Philip Togni, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain, Napa Valley, California 2021

Here are a few wines I’d like to highlight.

29: Ambar Estate, Lustral Chardonnay, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

A barrel selection from the top Chardonnay of the vintage crafted by winemaker Kate Payne Brown of Ambar Estate. The 2022 is only the second vintage from this Dundee Hills estate. It is provocatively aromatic, as elegance is imbued with an intense core of smoky grilled lemon, juicy ripe Meyer lemon pulp and salty oyster shells. The palate flashes thirst-slaking acidity. The seemingly endless finish is evocative of the marine air from the Pacific not far off on the other side of the Coast Range. Payne Brown has crafted one of the vintage’s top wines in the Lustral.

25: Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

Matías Kúsulas was in his first vintage as head winemaker at Gård in the 2021 vintage, and his talent for coaxing balance and finesse from the hot wine growing regions in the desert of Eastern Washington is immediately apparent. Made in a Cornas style, very reductive, and 85% whole cluster, Kúsulas wants his Syrahs to be savoury. This fruit comes from Conner Lee, which has deep sandy soils, and Scarline, which has shallow soils. Sleek Black fruits have plenty of tension, and real elegance and umami are here in spades.

24: Eyrie Vineyards, South Block Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2019

The day after IPNC 2024, I joined a lucky few at the hallowed grounds of Eyrie Vineyards, where Jason Lett walked us through the iconic South Block of the estate’s old vines. The newly released 2019 South Block Reserve celebrates his father’s vision and Oregon’s Pinot Noir heritage. The Eyrie wines made noise in 1979 at a Paris Wine Olympics staged by the French restaurant guide Gault-Millau, where a 1975 Eyrie Pinot Noir finished in the top 10. The 2019 bottling is a stunning display from the most recent cool vintage in the Willamette Valley. The South Block was planted in 1968 and is comprised of 10 rows of David Lett’s original Pinot Noir planting. Several soils come together at this part of The Eyrie, and the elder Lett noticed it early on, bottling it as a single block selection back in 1975.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 20-11

Tasting notes and scores are below

20: Peay Vineyards, Scallop Shelf Estate Pinot Noir, West Sonoma Coast, California 2021

19: Dominus Estate, Napa Valley, California 2021

18: Walter Scott, X Novo Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

17: Littorai, B. A. Thieriot Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2021

16: WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

15: Martin Woods, The Rocks Syrah, The Rocks District, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon 2022

14: AXR, Harbison Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, California 2021

13: Arterberry Maresh, Weber Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

12: Ridge, Montebello, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

11: Cobb, Emmaline Ann Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2021

20: Peay Vineyards, Scallop Shelf Estate Pinot Noir, West Sonoma Coast, California 2021

A cuvée put together by winemaker Vanessa Wong is primarily a Pommard clone selection (60%), which lends to blood orange and pomegranate pulp. The wines from Peay’s site in the far West Sonoma Coast can be overtly oceanic with a core of saline minerality that glistens for years, a hallmark of the wine’s ageability. It’s the most aromatic, elegant and finesse-driven of the Peay wines – the palate is delicate, with freshness, depth and finesse all coming together.

16: WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

Across the range, Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen flexes his ability to craft wines of elegance in a hot vintage and region. ‘I’m trying to make elegant wines in the desert,’ says winemaker Lindsay-Thorsen. He pulls it off, and I believe his winemaking style and that of a few of his contemporaries are the key to the future of Washington’s winemaking and viticulture. This Syrah comes from a 1998 planting at Boushey Vineyard in pure rock – gorgeous florals marked by dried lavender and smoky violets with mulberries and fresh mint notes. The palate marries signature Boushey, marking the wines with a feral finesse.

11: Cobb, Emmaline Ann Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2021

The Emmaline Ann Pinot Noir stood out from a large 2021 vintage tasting on a rainy January day on the Sonoma Coast at Abigail’s Vineyard with Ross Cobb. The wine’s sheer elegance made it stand out among a collection of sterling examples of subtlety and refinement. ‘Lots of folks talk about making wines in a Burgundian style, but From a vineyard planted by the Hunnicutt family, a little more than 1ha at up to 250m, the Emmaline Ann vineyard is surrounded by redwood forest. Made with 40% whole clusters and aged 22 months in barrel, this is an elegant aromatic symphony of gravelly minerality, pine bough, tart red fruits and fresh mint, revealing candied raspberries, black tea depth, bright berries and pomegranate molasses.

Click here for Part one: 50-31

Top 50 US Wines 2024: How the selections were made

The selections for Decanter’s Top 50 US wines were chosen from the over 3,000 wines tasted and reviewed between January and November of 2024. To be considered, they must be current or soon-to-be-released wines; library wines are not eligible.

They were selected to show a range of styles, places and exciting and emerging winemaking talent. This is not intended to be a list of the top-scoring wines of the year but wines that show the brilliance and diversity of America’s winemaking talents and regions.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part two –Wines 30-11

Wines are listed in reverse order from 30 to 11

Related articles

Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buyer’s guide to the vintage’s finest wines

Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

Paso Robles 2022 vintage: Best wines from a challenging year

Top Wines of the Year lists are far from novel, with most major publications compiling a list of their various takes on a ‘Top 100’ wines tasted in a given year. They may elicit controversy and second-guessing; but you know what they say about opinions, after all.

In my second year in this role, as our US coverage has continued to expand, it felt important to find a way to emphasise our commitment to both the depth and breadth of US wine.

In 2024, we’ve featured vintage reports from both the Sonoma Coast and Sonoma County separately, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley that spans both Washington and Oregon.

Of course, we covered Napa, Paso Robles, New York State, and, for the first time, the Anderson Valley on California’s northernmost coast.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of the Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part one

There’s more to do, of course. We’re just getting started, and this countdown, revealed over the course of this week, will feature wines highlighted by several correspondents and contributing writers.

Jonathan Cristaldi, in Napa; Vanessa Rason, located in Santa Barbara County; Brianne Cohen in Paso Robles; and Maiah Johnson Dunn, up in the Finger Lakes, along with contributing writer Anna Lee Ijima and yours truly.

I personally enjoy these lists because of the conversation they create, the rare bit of controversy, and the attention that often results for smaller, out-of-the-way regions and producers. My aim with this list is to show that beyond the perfect scores of our Napa Valley vintage report, there are remarkable wines and winemakers across the US.

I made the final ranking decisions, and I’ve personally tasted most, but not all, of these wines, even if I haven’t scored them myself. I recognise that it’s not perfect, but I feel like it’s a great start for us, a very small team on this side of the pond.

My hope is that you may discover a new producer or three and enjoy exploring this list as much as I did putting it together.

The first 20 wines on our list include the only wine from outside the West Coast. I believe places like New York and Virginia make compelling wines, and hope that as we taste more of them, you’ll see them showing up on this list more frequently.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 50-41

Tasting notes and scores are below

50: Apollo’s Praise, Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York 2023

49: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2021

48: Delmas, Viognier, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Oregon 2021

47: Hirsch Vineyards, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

46: Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills, Washington 2021

45: Cain Vineyard & Winery, Cain Five, Spring Mountain, Napa Valley, California 2021

44: DeLille Cellars, Chaleur Estate, Red Mountain, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

43: Drew Family Cellars, Faite de Mer Farm – Radiolaria Pinot Noir, Mendocino Ridge, California 2022

42: RAEN Winery, Royal St. Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

41: Pahlmeyer, Pièce de Résistance, Napa Valley, California 2021

Here are a few wines I’d like to highlight.

50: Apollo’s Praise, Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York 2023

The team at Apollo’s Praise is husband and wife, Kelby James Russell and Julia Hoyle, who also make the wines for the Finger Lakes outfit Hosmer. KJR was the longtime winemaker at Red Newt and is among the country’s most talented and exciting winemakers. This Kabinett-style Riesling and his drier bottling exemplify New York’s Riesling sweet spot. The Dry Riesling turned heads when I tasted it in London at our Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in November.

48: Delmas, Viognier, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Oregon 2021

My top white wine from the 2021 Columbia Valley vintage report. Honestly, I find domestic Viognier too often tedious. It tends to lack freshness and minerality and, in the worst cases, can move towards the flabby and fat side of the spectrum. The Viognier from Delmas shatters that boring mould. Brooke Delmas Roberston says: ‘We pick this Viognier when the skins are orange and freckly, and it’s at 25 brix.’ She also gives the wine 8-12 hours on the skins to build texture. The result challenges conventional thinking about ripeness and the variety itself. The honeyed palate of ripe apricots and macerated yellow peaches is shot through with streaks of salinity and bright, soaring piques of fresh ginger.

47: Hirsch Vineyards, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

The Hirsch Rosé of Pinot Noir is a very exciting wine. While I scored several of the Pinot Noirs and the Chardonnay higher when tasting with Jasmine Hirsch in the spring, this wine stands out. It is, I believe, America’s best rosé by some distance. Over vintage and made in the same fashion as the Pinot Noirs at Hirsch. Harvested at full ripeness with time in barrel, Jasmine Hirsch isn’t convinced that pink Pinot Noir should be made in a Provençal style, and after tasting this wine, it’s hard to argue with her.

42: RAEN Winery, Royal St. Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

My love for the Sonoma Coast was cemented in January at a tasting there with several West Sonoma Coast Vintners member wineries. I was focused on producing a 2021 vintage report, but this preview of 2022 from Carlo Mondavi’s team at RAEN was a sterling wine. The Seafield and Bodega vineyards comprise this wine dedicated to Robert Mondavi. The smoky aromatics and pungent floral aromas of this wine are about the microflora of the vineyard. All native yeasts, unfiltered and unfined, with 10% new oak, it’s a wine of intensity and elegance and undeniably coastal.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 40-31

Tasting notes and scores are below

40: Liminal, WeatherEye Vineyard Block 47 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

39: Read Holland Wines, Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

38: Kinsman Eades, Hierothesion, Napa Valley, California, 2021

37: Cadence, Coccinelle Bis Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon 2023

36: Cristom Vineyards, Louise Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

35: Force Majeure, Estate Syrah, Red Mountain, Washington 2021

34: Diamond Creek, Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District, Napa Valley, California 2021

33: Bethel Heights, Casteel Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

32: Corison, Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California 2021

31: Scarecrow, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, California 2021

39: Read Holland Wines, Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

An exciting Chardonnay was a personal highlight among the 1300+ wines I tasted this year. It can be rare in this business to discover a complete unknown. I was tipped off to Winemaker Ashley Holland for an August feature about how California Chardonnay challenges the stale stereotypes associated with the variety. Holland brings a real exuberance to her ability to make wine from such a historically important vineyard. A charming and complex Chardonnay that comes from nearly 50-year-old Chardonnay vines, head-trained in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

37: Cadence, Coccinelle Bis Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, Oregon, USA 2023

This wine is a one-off for Cadence winemaker Ben Smith, who makes his wines exclusively from his Red Mountain estate vineyard, Cara Mia. A fun project made for charity, the humble Smith here shows that he can make some of the Northwest’s most compelling wines from anywhere he chooses. Walla Walla’s Christophe Baron gave Smith some fruit from one of his younger plots, and Smith showed his deft hand in producing one of the most compelling Syrahs from the region I’ve tasted, even in its youth.

32: Corison, Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California 2021

Cathy Corison has remained a Napa Valley icon since she opened her doors in 1987. Consistently crafting benchmark wines, in this case from the Kronos Vineyard, planted in 1971. Embraced by long-time Napa Valley purists, sommeliers, and wine geeks, Cathy Corison is the winemaker’s winemaker, focusing on benchland sites between Rutherford and St Helena. Cathy’s quiet confidence and unwavering belief in what she’s doing has her never chasing style or trend but instead sticking to what she knows and has done, better than nearly everyone else, for almost 40 years. The 2021 Kronos Vineyard Cabernet is about terroir and vintage, embraced by her signature lightness, purity and precision.

Top 50 US Wines 2024: How the selections were made

The selections for Decanter’s Top 50 US wines were chosen from the over 3,000 wines tasted and reviewed between January and November of 2024. To be considered, they must be current or soon-to-be-released wines; library wines are not eligible.

They were selected to show a range of styles, places and exciting and emerging winemaking talent. This is not intended to be a list of the top-scoring wines of the year but wines that show the brilliance and diversity of America’s winemaking talents and regions.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part one –Wines 50-31

Wines are listed in reverse order from 50 to 31

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Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

Paso Robles 2022 vintage: Best wines from a challenging year

For winemakers in the US, in a region like the Columbia Valley, or throughout the West Coast, crafting wines that provide a good value at an approachable price can seem challenging.

From the consumer side, quality wines and those that receive high scores seem to come with a price tag that gets closer and closer to the US$100 number each time we go to the speciality wine retailer.

‘There is absolutely a range of wiggle room that a winery has in setting prices,’ says Kelsey Albro Itämeri of Walla Walla‘s Itä winery. ‘Pricing your wines is a difficult decision to make when you are just starting a business. Even though you may have set a budget and projections for costs and sales, the reality is that those can fluctuate wildly.

‘But there is a feasible band of price levels where at the lower price levels, you might be making a lower margin but selling higher volume, and then at the higher end, you’re making a higher margin, but it’s harder to sell each individual bottle.’

Scroll down for top-scoring Columbia Valley wines of the 2021 vintage all under $50

Itämeri continues: ‘There are some pretty basic facts on the ground about what goes into a wine that helps determine its cost. The price of grapes, final yield of wine per ton or acre, cost of hauling, processing, pressing, bottling, ageing vessel and time, corks, labels, and so on.’

‘Of all those factors, there are ones that a winemaker can influence, such as which grapes we purchase and which processing methods might increase our yield, and ones that we cannot.

‘There are vintage conditions that might produce clusters with fewer and smaller berries, or for small producers like me, a light vintage like 2021 where some of my costs per lot were set, but the size of each lot was a lot smaller come harvest.’

The price tag arms race

The benchmark for American red wine is always Napa Valley, and upon visiting, you’ll be introduced to a new stratosphere of American wine pricing. One hundred dollars is the entry-level in all but a very few cases for wines that are expressive of place and winemakers of renown.

A recent Wine Searcher article from October 2024 ranked the top 10 most expensive wines in Napa. The top wine was over $6,000, and the bottom was $1,200. It’s rarified air.

What does this race to the top mean for winemakers and consumers in a place like the Columbia Valley, where Washington winemakers have long compared their Cabernets to those made in Napa?

Well, primarily, it means that you won’t see many straight Cabernet Sauvignons listed below this article, save for the Cadence Cara Mia Cabernet, which squeaks in at $49.99, and the tremendous value Cabernet Sauvignon from Métier ($30.99), a second label from Delille Cellars.

When talking with winemakers who consistently deliver value and affordability (two different things), they think about who drinks their wines and know that not every bottle is for a special occasion.

Click here for the full Columbia Valley 2021 vintage report

Finding a sweet spot

‘The word “value” in the world of wine can really be a Rorschach test,’ says JJ Williams of Red Mountain’s Kiona Vineyards. ‘Ultimately, I think we need to decouple the ideas that “value” and “affordability” are intrinsically linked. Some wines provide fantastic value but are not necessarily “affordable” in the traditional sense. Likewise, there are affordable wines that are not good value.’

Williams continues: ‘There is a subset of medium-sized Washington state wineries right now, Kiona Vineyards included, that is absolutely delivering in that value+affordability space.

‘More often than not, we have a few things in common: we’ve been around a long time, so we aren’t operating like startups. Importantly, we’re competing in the three-tier market, not just direct to consumer, and we’ve all found that we need to over-deliver on quality for the dollar to earn a space at the table.’

Pricing paradigms

There is an inherent push and pull in the pricing of fine wines in the United States. At the highest levels, there can even be a bias against well-priced wines and a sort of skepticism about their quality. If one wine costs $50 and another $300, the assumption is that the more expensive wine is by default, the best.

Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen, MS of WT Vintners, whose Boushey Vineyard Syrah was among the top three wines in my vintage report, makes wines in the $50 and under category as a rule.

‘Domestic, American wine has become too precious for its own good,’ Lindsay-Thorsen says, ‘and has alienated a huge swath of people just getting into wine by simply pricing those people out of the experience.

‘The entry point for quality wine in the US market vastly differs from what I have experienced in Europe. There, very good, handmade wines can be had for less than €30 (US$31).’

‘It seems that domestic wineries often forget they exist on the world stage and that there is an ocean of very good and very inexpensive wine out there on retail shelves and on wine lists from around the world competing for the sale,’ Lindsay-Thorsen concludes.

Itämeri says: ‘I think price is an incredibly important avenue of communication with your potential customers. Aside from liking or disliking the design of your label, it is something that every single customer can understand and feel empowered to have an opinion on.

‘When setting my pricing at Itä, I wanted to hit a sweet spot of a fairly accessible price point that also allows me to cover the costs of making high-quality wine and also sends the economic signal of quality – I think that if you underprice your wines, some folks will assume it is a lower-quality product.’

Columbia Valley 2021: A selection of 15 wines under $50

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The sub-appellation of Yamhill-Carlton is positioned due west of the much smaller Ribbon Ridge, and rather more famous Dundee Hills AVA.

Just like the Dundee Hills, which was carved out of the Oregon wilderness by David Lett in 1965, Yamhill-Carlton is another pioneering AVA, its potential recognised by Pat and Joe Campbell who established the first vineyards for their Elk Cove winery in 1974.

It was officially recognised as an AVA in 2004.

Known for their structure, the wines of Yamhill-Carlton bear the hallmark of dark fruits and spice, and their tannin makes them reliably age-worthy.

A founding amid farmland

‘Yamhill-Carlton was much more remote back then,’ says second-generation Anna Campbell, who runs the winery with her brother Adam.

‘It had a much smaller population that felt very distant from the big cities of McMinnville and Portland. There were more dairy and cattle farms back then and lots of plum and cherry orchards.’

‘My folks fell in love with the property that would become Elk Cove,’ Campbell continues, ‘with its protective bowl shape and giant fir and oak trees. There was a little dilapidated barn and some overgrown orchards, and they had a vision of turning it into a vineyard, selling a little wine out of the old barn and living off the land.

'The local herd of elk migrated through and bedded down around our family’s trailer one morning, inspiring the name Elk Cove.’

‘They recognised they couldn’t do it all themselves,’ Campbell recounts. ‘Despite their isolation and independent spirit, they teamed up with their colleagues in this new industry and worked together to improve their winemaking, to lobby the state for better land-use and labelling laws, to market their wines together.

'They built a community along with other pioneers like David Lett and David Adelsheim, the Ponzis, and the Sokol-Blossers, and we are all still benefitting from that sense of shared vision.’

‘We still hear that Oregon has something exceptional because the wineries work together,’ she continues. ‘They don’t see themselves so much as competition but as collaborators. Believing that a rising tide lifts all boats.

'We still benefit from this culture. Every time a skilled winemaker or viticulturalist chooses to stay in Oregon, they cite that it’s because it doesn’t feel as cutthroat or as isolated as other wine regions.’

A unique soil profile

The Yamhill-Carlton AVA is an island of sorts, surrounded by the signature soil of the Willamette Valley, rich, red Jory, volcanic in origin.

‘Those soils are radically different than the soil that defines the Yamhill-Carlton,’ says Lemelson Vineyards winemaker Matt Wengel.

The soil he is referring to is Willakenzie, an ancient marine sedimentary soil that is much drier than Jory and that is pre-eminent in Yamhill-Carlton.

‘But it’s incredibly diverse,’ Wengel continues. ‘We think of the Yamhill-Carlton in terms of Willakenzie. As soon as you get past that 400-and-some-odd feet in elevation, the soil transitions to Jory, an incredibly fertile basalt high in iron. Given the region’s low elevation, many people aren’t even aware of this nuance.’

Wengel adds: ‘The big challenge of Yamhill-Carlton with these Willakenzie soils is that they are sandy, very fine, and most importantly, deep.

'That means from a winemaking and viticulture point of view that these soils stress the vine, and that’s a perfect thing for the quality of the resulting wine.’

Climatic nuance

Given the narrow nature of the Willamette Valley and the fact that it’s easy to pass from one AVA to another in just a few minutes of driving, it’s easy to assume that the climate can be homogenous throughout the Willamette. P

lenty of dynamism exists across the Valley’s 1.4 million hectares, let alone the 1,150 hectares of vines in the Yamhill-Carlton appellation.

‘We talk a lot about the sedimentary soils, but I don’t think nearly enough about some of the other unique conditions here,’ says Gran Moraine winemaker Shane Moore.

To hear Moore tell it, there is a distinct difference between wines from the east and west sides of Yamhill Carlton, a region more or less divided by Highway 47.

‘There are the wines coming from the western side of the appellation,’ explains Moore.

‘Those would include Résonance, Gran Moraine and Elk Cove and all those, and then there are the wines on the east side, like Ken Wright, Lemelson and others. From my tasting, it seems like the two sides of the Yamhill-Carlton are very different in structure.’

He continues: ‘On the eastern side, I see more tannin and a kind of darker fruit profile. Those from the western side seem to have softer tannin profiles. We see a lot less wind on the west side.’

Concluding, Moore says: ‘I think that’s a lot of it; the wind really affects the thickness of the skins. Those western vineyard sites are really tucked right up against the Coast Range, and so it’s not nearly as open a valley.

‘And there’s a little bit more of a rain shadow as well. It’s just the vines are a little more protected. They seem prettier and more elegant, and the wines on the eastern side seem more structured and have more depth.’

Seven Yamhill-Carlton producers to watch

Elk Cove Vineyards

Elk Cove is the AVA’s founding property, established in 1974. The story goes that the Campbell family winds their way up a gravel road to an abandoned and overgrown homestead in the foothills of the Coast Range Mountains. It was love at first sight, and Pat and Joe Campbell set down roots.

Their son, Adam, is now responsible for making the Elk Cove wines. The estate has grown to six vineyard sites with 380 planted acres (150ha).

Elk Cove farms sites in the foothills of Oregon’s Coast Range at various elevations. Their winery estate vineyard has grown from the original five acres planted in 1974 and sits at over 750ft in elevation (230 metres).

Their most prestigious bottling is often the single-vineyard Roosevelt Pinot Noir; the steep, south-facing slopes drive ripeness in the fruit from vintage to vintage.

Gran Moraine

Gran Moraine is a Jackson Family project in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. It is a gorgeous vineyard site on rolling slopes tucked into the foothills of the Cascade Range in the western Yamhill-Carlton district. The winemaker, Shane Moore, is an exuberant character dedicated to picking early to preserve freshness.

‘The Pinots have a lot of that gravelly texture on the palate,’ says Moore. ‘I think of it as a linear, sort of mid-palate travel. That’s the through line of the appellation, in my opinion, and there are a lot of style differences between sites and winemakers.’

‘So generally, in a lot of years, the two earliest picks in the whole Willamette Valley are us and a winery with a very warm, south-facing Dundee Hills site. I’ve been doing it for 20 years now, but my mentors were all about hanging fruit out.

‘And going as far as you can with ripeness, and that was kind of where that quality line was, and I’ve always had the thought that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. And so we’re pulling in quite a bit earlier than most places.’

Kramer Vineyards

Kramer Vineyards is an under-the-radar family operation in the northwestern reaches of the Yamhill-Carlton appellation, just above Gaston. With notoriously a steep vineyard site, the Kramers were part of an early second wave of wine growing and winemaking families coming to the Willamette Valley.

Keith and Trudy Kramer planted their vineyard in 1984 to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling, producing their first wines commercially in 1988.

Now, second-generation winemaker Kimberly Kramer makes the wines and the vines have matured, resulting in dynamic Pinot Noir, with intense fruit character and delicious earth and forest floor signatures.

Ken Wright Cellars

Kentucky transplant by way of UC Davis and California’s Monterey County, Ken Wright is a long-standing fixture in the Willamette Valley, often referred to as the Mayor of Carlton. Wright’s arrival in the late 1980s saw him found Panther Creek Cellars before starting his eponymous brand in 1994.

Wright authored the Yamhill-Carlton AVA application in the early 2000s. (It was established in 2004.)

Wright’s focus is on single-vineyard designate Pinot Noirs, and he makes wines from 13 different vineyard sites throughout the Willamette Valley.

Lemelson Vineyards

Established by environmental attorney and activist Eric Lemelson in 1999, Lemelson Vineyards. (Interestingly Eric’s father Jerome Lemelson was a prolific inventor, and holds more patents than any other inventor, except a guy named Thomas Edison.)

Lemelson Vineyards has been organic since its inception, and the vineyard team, led by Rob Schultz get all the credit from the Lemelson director of winemaking Matt Wengel.

‘Rob [Schultz] has a very scientific mind, and his approach to managing our vineyards, starting in 2021 and 2022, has really made a difference in our wines, says Wengel. Though the soils are a defining factor of how those vines perform.

‘Yamhill-Carlton is probably my favourite Willamette appellation when it comes to vineyards with age and deeper root systems,’ Wengel continues.

‘Once you have mature plants, the AVA, in contrast with the Dundee Hills and the Chehalem Mountains, which are higher elevation, volcanic Jory soils, here, the wines are more structured. So it’s a firmer tannin backbone, and for someone like me coming from Napa, I enjoy making bolder wines.’

He adds: ‘We do an extended maceration with all our wines and 16 months of elévage. It’s really important for these wines and the tannins to evolve. You see a transition to black fruits, black cherry, and blackberry. There is a feral element, and the signature we all talk about up here with the Yamhill-Carlton is the earthiness and spice.’

Résonance

Résonance is the first-ever project by Burgundian icons Maison Louis Jadot outside of Burgundy. They purchased the property in 2013, and the 20 acres (8ha) of vines were planted in 1981 on their own rootstock. To date, there have been no signs of phylloxera in the vineyard.

The famed Jacques Lardière spearheaded the project, but Guillaume Large is leading the Oregon winemaking team and like Wengel at Lemelson is a big believer in vine age making a difference in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA.

‘We see a lot of vine stress in our younger plantings here,’ explains Large, ‘but at Résonance, the vines are now over 40 years-old, and they have access to the basaltic bedrock, and so we have such great resilience in our vineyard. We saw no stress in the vines when it was hot in 2022 and 2023.’

‘I can’t tell you precisely the difference between grafted and ungrafted vines because I am still learning,’ Large explains. ‘Yet I am sure that ungrafted vines show a pure and true expression of this terroir, this place, with a true sense of clarity.’

Soter Vineyards

After leaving his indelible mark on Napa Valley and California, Oregon native Tony Soter came north to Oregon with his late wife Michelle, establishing Soter Vineyards in 1997 at Mineral Springs Ranch.

In 2013, their entire property was converted to biodynamics, and they achieved certification in 2016. In addition to their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, they have established a reputation for their elegant sparkling wines.

Chris Fladwood is the winemaker at Soter Vineyards, and sees the Mineral Springs Ranch property as an outlier from a geological point of view.  

‘So Mineral Springs is a bit of an outlier in the Yamhill-Carlton,’ he explains. ‘We’re actually over sandstone and not siltstone. The traditional Willakenzie soil is over siltstone. And silt being a finer particle than sand will hold on to the water a little bit longer.’

‘In our vineyards, this means the vines use up their water. It’s gonna transition from sort of a vegetative concentration into flowering a little bit earlier, and this gives you more potential for a tannin structure, and as a result, you’re going to see longer evolution in our Pinot Noirs,’ Fladwood concludes.

Pinot Noir from Yamhill-Carlton:

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The Thanksgiving table includes a myriad of dishes and flavours, starting with appetisers to graze on as guests arrive. The buffet lineup of traditional dishes typically includes roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, casseroles and cranberry relish. Plates are filled with these favourites, and in one bite, you might get turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy. So, how do you pair wines with this array of flavours?

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A good starting point is to remember that the Thanksgiving table may not be the time to pour powerful, robust wines. Nor is it the time to fret about wine pairings with particular dishes. The goal is to serve a lineup of light-bodied, versatile and easy-drinking wines that can work with the multitude of flavours on the table. And most importantly, select wines that are likely to please your guests’ varying palates. Thanksgiving is a time to break bread and enjoy a hearty, home-cooked meal with those closest to you. Your wine selections accentuate this holiday tradition, not the featured attraction.

Pairing principles

Below are simple wine and food pairing principles for the Thanksgiving table and throughout the year. A good starting point is understanding what’s happening in the glass and on the plate and how those things can create an experience greater than the sum of its parts. These guiding principles of wine and food pairings are evergreen and are meant to enhance a delicious meal with tasty wines and fine company.

Wine and food pairings are more fluid than definitive. Tradition says that specific foods call for particular wines. Things such as oysters and Chablis or steak and Cabernet Sauvignon. With Thanksgiving mains, many point to Pinot Noir as the ideal pairing for a simple roasted turkey. Those combinations are examples of successful pairings, but other options exist. Oysters and sparkling wine (particularly Champagne), steak and Syrah, and turkey and Chardonnay work just as well.

Think less of the food or protein and more specifically of the preparation. When it comes to the turkey, is it deep-fried or roasted? With sweet potatoes, are they baked in a sweet casserole or roasted with pancetta? The preparation method or sauce may drive what wine will work best.

Food made with acid-based sauces (such as tomatoes, vinegar or lemon) goes well with Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, or Pinot Noir. Rich sauces work best with high-acid wines to refresh or with rich, full-bodied wines to really step into the richness. If there’s any spice on the table, such as a spicy sausage stuffing, lower-alcohol wines with some residual sugar (like Riesling) will work well.

Matching food and wines with similar weights and richness is one key to pairing success. To do this, one must think of food and wine as both existing on a spectrum: Light-bodied wines with light dishes and full-bodied wines with rich or spice-driven dishes. So, with lighter vegetable dishes, such as green bean almondine or shaved Brussels sprouts salad, an acid-driven white blend might work best. An oaky red blend with spicy, toasty notes would pair well with a baking spice-dominant sweet potato casserole.

When thinking about wine pairings for Thanksgiving, consider whether you’d like to balance or accentuate the flavours on the table. For rich dishes such as buttered mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or candied yams, you can balance the richness and fattiness with a high-acid, palate-cleansing white such as Riesling or Pinot Gris. In contrast, accentuate and step into the richness with a full-bodied, creamy Chardonnay.

A special occasion

Undeniably, Thanksgiving is, for many, one of the rare occasions when a family from near and far come together. So it may stand to reason that it’s the perfect occasion to break out that wine you’ve been saving for a rarer moment. It may be a self-serving opportunity to open something you’ve wanted to revisit from your cellar or a perfect occasion to share the magic of ageing wine with friends and family.

When it comes to sharing aged wines, its important that you prepare the wine properly, as well as those who are perhaps experiencing their first aged wine.

Opening an older wine can be a challenge in itself, given the variable conditions often found with older corks. Making sure to open the wine away from the table is a smart first step, as crumbling corks and decanting wines require space to execute properly.

There are a few different techniques for opening older, more fragile corks, and then a decision must be made on whether or not to decant your older wine.

In addition to managing the wine, it’s a good idea to manage the expectations of your guests, who may not have any experience tasting older wines. Helping them understand how wine breaks down over time and what to expect will heighten their enjoyment or at least help them anticipate how the experience of an aged wine will differ from what they know.

As the primary components of an aged Bordeaux or Pinot Noir turn from fruit to secondary and tertiary characteristics, those aged wines may not be the most appropriate to pair with the food, but rather the occasion, and they may show best as a before or after dinner toast.

Thanksgiving wine pairings: 10 American wines to try

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In 2021, winemakers, like the rest of us, were poised to rebound from the most challenging year in recent memory for, well, the entire human race. But the year was hardly a panacea, nor was it an easy bounce back from 2020.

The heat was extreme at times and unparalleled even for the hot desert climate that is home to nearly all of the Columbia Valley. Furthermore, there were still lingering issues from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding staffing and safety protocols, particularly in states like Washington and Oregon.

In addition, wildfires were once again a problem, although their impacts seem to be isolated to very specific parts of Washington State. I tasted a few wines (less than 10 in a sampling of over 300 wines) impacted by the Schneider Springs Fire, which was localised to some western parts of the Columbia Valley appellation.

However, while the best wines of 2021 undoubtedly show ripeness, there is elegance, balance, and a subdued freshness in those from the top producers.

Both Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah showed brilliance with refined tannins and minerality when diligence was exercised in picking decisions.

Columbia Valley 2021 red wines of the vintage

Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope 98 points

WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley 98 points

Columbia Valley 2021 white wine of the vintage

Delmas, Viognier, Rocks District of Milton-Freewater 96 points

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Columbia Valley 2021 wines

Columbia Valley vintage ratings

2021 3/5

A vintage beset by record-shattering temperatures, 2021 in terms of wine quality, was a vintage for those pursuing balance. The heat dome in June, coupled with continued hot weather all the way through harvest, made acidity and freshness harder to come by for many Columbia Valley producers. Winemakers in slightly cooler sights benefitted, as did those who relied on proactive vineyard management. Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon showed that they could take the heat for the most part, and many up-and-coming producers made wines that stood out by picking earlier and benefitting from sites with strong mineral character.

2020 3/5

In this slightly warmer-than-average year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced wineries to create strategies that allowed them to continue to make wine. The best show finesse and balance, with fine examples, in particular, coming from the Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. In September, wildfires raged to the south in Oregon, creating difficulty with ripening and impacting some vineyards with smoke taint. However, there wasn’t the same widespread damage here as in parts of Oregon and California.

2019 5/5

It was a cooler year for the warm, largely desert-growing conditions, this and a cold, wet winter, delayed bud break and bloom delivering wines with great elegance, finesse, and balance. Challenging frost events in September and October contributed to smaller yields. The top wines show beautiful finesse and elegance balanced against Washington’s characteristic tannin structure and reliable ripeness.

The heat is on

Living in the Pacific Northwest, I experienced the late June heat dome first-hand. It was a horrifying experience, the likes of which I had never seen before. In Seattle, which typically sees summer temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s (21-26°C), it was 108°(42°C) for multiple days. Despite our coastal location, the air did not move. It was suffocating and it turns out, the deadliest weather-related event in Washington State’s history.

Trothe founder Jeff Andrews’ family has been growing wine grapes for generations in the Horse Heaven Hills, and with all that experience, the heat of 2021 still looms as a defining factor of the vintage. ‘2021 was the year that all the talk of warming trends and excessive heat projections became more than theory,’ says Andrews. ‘It was an undeniable reality. We recorded twenty days of 100°(37° C) or more at Andrews Family Vineyards between 2 June and 16 August. We’ve had warm-to-hot vintages in the past, but 2021 was something we had never experienced before.’

‘Since then, we’ve had one hot vintage after another. Even this year (2024), a “cool” vintage, has been very warm by historical standards,’ Andrews continues.

‘We’re doing everything we can to adapt to the annual onslaught of excessive summer heat, taking steps in the vineyard to produce the best fruit each vintage and preserve plant health for future vintages. We pay close attention to crop load, canopy size, water, and nutrition needs,’ said Andrews.

Columbia Valley 2021: top 10 wines of the vintage

(alphabetically and by score)

Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope 98 points

WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley 98 points

DeLille Cellars, Chaleur Estate, Red Mountain 97 points

Force Majeure, Estate Syrah, Red Mountain, 97 points

From the Sky Down, Solaksen Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Winemaker Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Quilceda Creek, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley 97 points

Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills 97 points

WT Vintners, Les Collines Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 97 points

A season of extremes

The challenges of 2021 were not only about heat. For many growers, it was the lowest-yielding vintage they’d seen in their careers, and several factors may have been at play.

The winter of 2020 included a late-winter freeze, and precipitation throughout that winter and into spring was lower than seasonal averages, leaving soils dry. Bud break came early, on the last day of March, and then it got cold for a stretch of about ten days, with temperatures below freezing. Hot temperatures followed, and bloom arrived in mid-May. It was windy and hot during bloom, creating challenges for fruit set and, ultimately, yield.

‘2021 was an interesting vintage,’ says Brooke Delmas Robertson, director of viticulture and winemaking for Delmas in The Rocks District AVA.

‘We saw extremes on both ends of the season. Hail and cool temps well into April, while the summer saw temps as high as 115° before the end of June. Residual freeze effects in the phloem (vascular tissue) of the vines and heat spikes too early in the season contributed to very low yields across all varieties, not just in The Rocks District but the Walla Walla Valley as a whole. Beautiful wines were made, but there are not a lot of them.’

The heat dome, which Delmas Robertson references, was the defining feature of 2021. It was an anomaly even in the hot region of eastern Washington and Oregon, where growers saw temperatures across the Columbia Valley go into the 120° (49°C ) range for several days.

See all 300+ Columbia Valley 2021 wines tasted from Washington State and Oregon

Pursuing balance

Most of the Columbia Valley is a desert, which means low disease pressure, ample ripeness and cool nights that allow for sufficient acid retention. For many winemakers, this ‘Goldilocks’ set of conditions, coupled with the ability to irrigate as needed, has made for relatively easy and reliable vintages over the last decade. As hot vintages become the norm, Washington winemakers’ ‘set it and forget it’ attitude from 10 to 20 years ago will be forced to change.

Those with estate vineyards, or a dedicated winegrower who is hands-on in the vine rows, will become essential as climate change pushes temperatures and shrinks picking windows, and certainly made a difference in 2021.

‘Being a viticulturist is a huge advantage when it comes to making wine,’ says Gård winemaker Matias Kusulas. ‘Being the head viticulturalist at an all-estate winery, means I have complete control in every block of every vineyard when it comes to decision making. Dialling in irrigation, fruit mass, and canopy management for a hot season is critical to good chemistry, the right aromatic and flavour compounds, and phenolic development – all of which are very important to a balanced wine. You can only do so much at the winery without negatively affecting the wine’s organoleptic profile. The best approach, to me, is paying close attention and focusing your efforts in the vineyard.’

‘The most important decision I made in 2021 was determining when to pick,’ says Trothe’s winemaker, Ray McKee. ‘It’s an important decision each year: picking determines how you capture the character of the fruit–perhaps underripe and green, or perfectly ripe, fresh, and vibrant, or possibly overripe and lacking nuance. The intensity of 2021 made the picking decision even more pivotal.’

‘As a wine-growing region, Washington has been getting steadily warmer since 2013, and I’ve learned a little more each year – my most important takeaway is that the picking window for great wines is actually relatively small. In 2021, it was still 90°(32°C) or above in October, when it’s typically in the 70s (21°C), and I picked Cabernet earlier than ever before to capture the variety’s vibrancy and avoid a one-note, baked-out wine.’

Columbia Valley 2021: 30 of the top wines tasted

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Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing/a>

Exclusively for Decanter Premium subscribers, North American Editor Clive Pursehouse comes to London fresh on the heels of his Willamette Valley 2022 vintage report to share his exuberance for the region with Decanter’s London readers in advance of Decanter’s London Fine Wine Encounter.

Join Clive and Simon Davies of A&B Vintners for a lively conversation and in-depth look at some of the top Pinot Noir and Chardonnays from this Oregon region.

An impressive selection of wines from the A&B Vintners catalogue will be poured, chosen specifically for this occasion by our North American Editor and A&B’s proprietor, Davies.

Guests will be treated to a special evening of rich conversation about the region’s top sub-appellations, Oregon Chardonnay’s ascent, and which rising star producers these two regional experts are most excited about.

The culinary team at Lorne has prepared a four-course prix-fixe menu that perfectly pairs with the selected wines.

Tickets are available at this Decanter exclusive link: Lorne x Decanter Wine Dinner.

Discover the best of the Willamette Valley at Lorne!

Date: 14 November

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Lorne restaurant, (76 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London)

Menu:

Starter: Cured salmon & rillettes, crème fraîche, cucumber, orange &shallot dressing (gluten, dairy)

Middle: Potato gnocchi with cauliflower purée, caper, raisin & almond dressing, Pecorino (gluten, dairy, egg, nuts)

Main: Cornish chicken with polenta, hispi cabbage, hazelnut pesto, Madeira sauce, smoked bone marrow (dairy, egg, nuts)

Cheese: Selection of hard cheeses (dairy, gluten)

Wines being poured will include:

Morgen Long, Durant Vineyard Chardonnay, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, 2021

Martin Woods, Yamhill Valley Vineyard Chardonnay, McMinnville, Willamette Valley, 2021

Sequitur, Chardonnay, Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, 2021

Abbott Claim, Abbott Claim Vineyard Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, 2021

Arterberry Maresh, Old Vines Pinot Noir; Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, 2019

Brick House, Halliday Hill Pinot Noir, Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, 2018

JK Carriere Wines, St Dolores Estate Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, 2016

Hope Well Wine, Chenin Blanc Hunter’s Moon, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley 2021

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• Oregon vintage 2022: Best Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs under $50
• Oregon’s Willamette Valley 2022: Chardonnay report and 20 wines to try

Living in the Pacific Northwest, I think of 2024 as a relatively steady, somewhat cool summer, with a few hot days but no notable anomalies.

I recognise that the weather where I live in Seattle is a bit different than that they receive in the Willamette Valley, and vastly different than that on the eastern side of Washington State, where it has been a very hot summer almost the whole time.

Checking in with winemakers throughout the region has revealed an interesting tale of two growing seasons: a long, steady, warm summer in Oregon and a steady, hot one in Washington State.

Washington

On Red Mountain, third-generation JJ Williams of Kiona Vineyards has seen the warm temperatures finally starting to cool down.

‘Sauvignon Blanc is always our first pick,’ Williams said. ‘And that was 5 September this year. 2024 feels like a 2.0 version of 2021 (considered a hot year). Fruit quality is high, and daytime temperatures have started to cool over the last week, so things are progressing at a nice, gradual pace.

‘The skies are always clear and sunny on Red Mountain, but the lower temperatures have been lovely for the fruit and our crew. This is the first full vintage under the care of our vineyard manager, Javier Ponce. He has worked closely with (and taken over from) Scott, my father, and his 50 years of Red Mountain experience.’

Things on Red Mountain will start wrapping up soon.

‘We’re not planning to do an ice wine this year; instead, we are allocating all of our Estate Chenin Blanc to our Columbia Valley Old Vine Chenin, which changes our timeline,’ Williams said.

‘Usually, our harvest end depends on when it freezes, and we never know. This year, our last blocks will be picked by mid-October. Our old-vine “1975 Old Block” on the estate came in on 14 October last year, and we think it will be close to that.’

On the far eastern side of Washington State, Kelsey Albro Itämeri is owner and winemaker at itä wines in the Walla Walla Valley, focusing on wines from the eastern foothills of the Blue Mountains.

She brings a restrained style that matches the moderation and finesse of the higher-elevation sites she works with.

‘We picked our first fruit, Sémillon, from Les Collines Vineyard on 28 August,’ Albro Itämeri shared.

‘We’re already almost all in (as of 17 September) with just Primitivo for rosé hanging, which we’ll pick by 23 September, and then half a ton of Petit Verdot that is always our last one in – it gets blended into our Merlot. We might pick that in October, but it is absolutely within the realm of possibility that we’ll be done picking by the end of September.

‘I’m really excited about the quality of the fruit this year. As an acid head, this year has been turning out to be my dream. There are lovely flavours with lots of snappy acidity to balance out. Malic acid levels are also pretty high, meaning that with the red wines, we’ll have the opportunity to soften that, especially by going through full or partial malolactic, depending on how things taste.’

Brad Sorensen is the viticulturist at Les Collines Vineyard, one of Walla Walla’s famed vineyard sites. ‘We were relieved that after a very warm summer, temperatures came down as we started harvest,’ Sorenson said.

‘It allows flavours to continue to develop as sugar accumulation slows down. The quality of the fruit looks excellent this year, with almost no issues with disease or damage from the sun or heat.’

Oregon’s Willamette Valley

Gina Hennen is the director of winemaking and viticulture at Adelsheim Vineyard, a Willamette Valley legacy winery founded by living legend David Adelsheim.

‘So far, this vintage has been absolutely dreamy,’ Hennen said. ‘We’ve had highs in the low to mid-70s and mostly sunny skies for the last few weeks. Because of those conditions, we are seeing a glacially slow pace of ripening, and sugar accumulation is happening much slower than our “new normal”.

‘That means we can get longer hang time for enhanced flavour development without the typical compromise of losing acid or creating too much potential alcohol. Over the last week, we’ve been rather casually picking Chardonnay and our earlier ripening Pinot Noir.

‘The weather outlook suggests more of the same in the coming weeks, so we’re happy to keep picking slowly as our estate vineyards gradually move into the ripening window. At this stage, my biggest concern is keeping our harvest interns busy, but that’s a luxurious problem to have.’

Jessica Mozeico, of Et Fille Wines, said: ‘The mid-September cooling in the Willamette Valley has been a complete gift. Up until the beginning of September, we were trending above the Growing Degree Days (GDD) average of the last 30 years.

‘That worried me because if it continued the warm weather would have increased sugar levels, and that could have necessitated harvesting before phenolic ripeness and flavour development were ready.

‘Temperatures dipping into the 50s (10°C) at night and peaking in the 70s (21°C) have slowed sugar ripening, and we’re letting phenolics and flavours catch up. Cool and dry conditions in late September and into October that allow hanging time maturation are ideal.’

Hennen added: ‘Right now, ripening is happening slowly, and acids aren’t dropping quickly. I think the 2024 vintage will be characterised by lovely and vibrant fruit flavours, low alcohol and ample acidity – a classic Willamette Valley vintage worth collecting. This plays right into the Adelsheim style, so I’m definitely looking forward to this year’s wines.’

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• Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

Dom Pérignon 2015 has been one of the latest major releases on a fine wine market that has largely continued to see prices under pressure. Dom Pérignon has been a major star of Champagne’s greater presence on the secondary market in recent years, and the new launch follows the release of the 2013 vintage in early 2023.

UK merchants offered Dom Pérignon 2015 for between £848 and £875 per six-bottle case in bond (ib). That’s below the release price of Dom Pérignon 2013, according to Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, but it also said the 2013 vintage had fallen about 15% in price in the past 12 months.

On Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade online trading platform, Dom Pérignon 2012 and 2013 were offered below £800 per six-bottle case. Liv-ex data suggested secondary market prices in general remained under pressure. The headline Liv-ex 1000 index fell 6.3% in value in six months to 30 June, and its Champagne 50 sub-index dropped 6.6%.

‘It’s a sign of the times that Dom Pérignon doesn’t sell out immediately,’ said Alex Turnbull, head of private and online sales at UK-based merchant Jeroboams. ‘We have seen stable demand [for the 2015 vintage], but go back three years and Dom Pérignon sold out within the hour.’

Turnbull also said that Dom Pérignon owner LVMH (Moët Hennessy) has ‘steadily increased the release price over the years, and so it doesn’t offer the same value on release that it used to’.

Vintage Ports command record prices at auction

Legendary vintage Ports from a UK private collection have generated strong buyer interest at a Christie’s auction in London.

Christie’s recently reported new auction price records (measured in terms of price per single bottle) for several vintage Ports in the sale. These included high-quality bottlings such as Dow’s 1924, of which a two-bottle lot sold for £6,875 including buyer’s premium (high estimate: £1,200), and Fonseca 1934. Two six-bottle lots of the Fonseca 1934 each fetched £9,375 (high estimate: £4,500 per lot).

The Ports were from Raby castle cellars in County Durham, near Darlington. ‘The exceptional cellar conditions, cool and damp, have ensured that all vintage Port bottles in this collection are in perfect condition,’ said Edwin Vos, senior director and international head of Christie’s wine and spirits department, and Noah May, Christie’s head of wine and spirits for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Provenance pulls in the bids

Auction house Sotheby’s has recently reported strong bidding on certain blue-chip Burgundy wines, but the wider market picture for the region remains mixed.

Sotheby’s said more than a third of lots sold in its Burgundy-focused ‘Live in the Vines’ auction in Beaune, in the heart of the Côte d’Or, on 2 July achieved prices comfortably above pre-sale high estimates.

Asia-based bidders were particularly prominent in the sale, which was part of the Epicurean’s Atlas series of auctions featuring wines from noted collector Pierre Chen. Sotheby’s also reported new record auction prices on certain wines (see wines, below).

For example, it said a three-bottle lot of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), Montrachet 2007 sold for the equivalent of more than €15,800 per bottle, including buyer’s premium – about 50% above the previous record bottle price.

George Lacey, Sotheby’s head of wine Asia, told Decanter: ‘When you offer older vintages in good condition with exceptional provenance – which are rare and not so frequently seen in the market – there’s clearly still great demand. That was really encouraging for us to see. People were really competing for those wines.’

Nick Pegna, Sotheby’s global head of wines & spirits, cautioned that the group’s focus on older wines that are ready to drink means that its results are not necessarily representative of the market in its entirety.

Lacey added: ‘People are willing to spend money on great wines. But, they are perhaps looking to replenish cellars or to buy wines that they can get immediate enjoyment from.’ In general terms, Lacey said Burgundy prices were ‘no longer sliding’, but were down versus their peak two years ago.

UK-based merchant Bordeaux Index said top-tier Burgundy prices were down by about 10% in the first half of 2024, albeit the price drift has slowed in recent months. It added that prices were still around 150% higher than a decade ago, on average.

Bordeaux Index pointed out that trading has improved this year on ‘bellwether’ producers DRC and Armand Rousseau, too. Burgundy wines now feature on the group’s recently relaunched LiveTrade online trading platform.

Data released by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, showed that its index for DRC wines rose slightly in value earlier this year, before dipping again in June.

Sotheby’s Live in the Vines: six blue-chip Burgundy highlights

Six examples of Burgundy lots in the Sotheby’s Live in the Vines sale on 2 July that saw a record auction price for that specific wine (records were measured in terms of price per 75cl, except for Lot 130, which is a record price per magnum of this wine):

LOT 200 Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 1990 12x75cl. Sold for €100,000 – Estimate: €40,000-€60,000

LOT 202 Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin Grand Cru 2009 12x75cl. Sold for €68,750 – Estimate: €40,000-€55,000

LOT 4 Domaine Leroy, Chambertin Grand Cru 2011 3x75cl. Sold for €50,000 – Estimate: €26,000-€38,000

LOT 140 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Montrachet Grand Cru 2007 3x75cl. Sold for €47,500 – Estimate: €19,000-€24,000

LOT 130 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, La Tâche Grand Cru 2005 1x150cl. Sold for €35,000 | Estimate: €16,000-€20,000

LOT 1 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Echezeaux Grand Cru 2005 3x75cl. Sold for €30,000 – Estimate: €6,500-€9,500

Data Source: Sotheby’s. ‘Sold for’ prices include buyer’s premium.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

The net performance of top wines from Burgundy since 2021 remains very positive, with gains of 60% or more across 2022, especially, now having settled into more of a context of above-40% after the market having softened across H2 2023 and in 2024.

This can be summarised succinctly as a very skewed supply-demand imbalance being replaced by a much more balanced position – naturally this has seen the highest degree of correction among those blue-chip names which had particularly outperformed, but the picture overall is that most owners of top Burgundy have seen substantial gains in value in their collection.

At Bordeaux Index we have seen prices largely stabilise (albeit some auction performance is notably lacklustre) and we expect price growth to resume over the medium term; but the timing for this is unclear, given the discretionary nature of buying demand.

Our observations relate very much to blue-chip Burgundy, though – the top 20-25 names – as we see the segment(s) below, high-quality wines though they are, as being overpriced and without a firm buyer base for consumption of the wines.

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The Willamette Valley is unquestionably one of the world’s great Pinot Noir (and I’d argue Chardonnay) regions.

For those who remain sceptical, I would point to the long track record that the region’s founding producers, like Eyrie, Ponzi, Bethel Heights, and Sokol Blosser (to name only a few), have in producing quality Pinot Noir vintage after vintage.

Likewise, many second-generation winemakers continue to elevate the Willamette Valley’s profile. Second-wave producers like Beaux Frères and Cristom Vineyards have only added to the region’s growing reputation for quality and consistency.

Scroll down for top-scoring Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs of the 2022 vintage all under $50

The tide has long risen

In addition to the longstanding classics, the current wave of great Willamette Valley winemakers is tremendous. Names like Alban Debeaulieu at Abbott Claim, Grant Coulter of Hundred Suns, Granville’s Jackson Holstein, Kate Payne Brown now at Ambar Estate and the inimitable second-generation winemaker Jimmy Maresh, who grew up in the vine rows in the Dundee Hills.

It is no longer a surprise to anyone who follows the world of wine that this region and its top talents are producing some of the greatest Pinot Noirs in the world – and ones that offer considerable value.

For the 2022 Willamette Valley vintage report, I tasted nearly 300 wines from the region’s many sub-appellations and those labelled with a broader Willamette Valley designation. Of all those wines, only one was noticeably more than $100 (£77), at around $125. Many of the vintage’s top-rated wines are available for between $45 and $85.

Where I truly believe the Willamette Valley can astound any Pinot Noir aficionado is in the under $50 (£37) category.

A commitment to quality

‘I think that a commitment to high-level winemaking makes for outstanding entry-level wines,’ says Jimmy Maresh of Arterberry Maresh, who produced what one of the top three wines of the 2022 vintage.

His Arterberry Maresh Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (96-points) is only $33.50. I believe it may be the best $33.50 American-made wine you can find. Even his Weber Pinot Noir (98-points), retails for just under $75.

‘Domaine Leflaive’s Bourgogne Blanc is better than most producers’ Puligny 1er crus,’ Maresh continues. ‘I don’t source any grapes for the Dundee Hills bottlings. It’s all Weber and Maresh Pinot Noir that doesn’t make it into the single-vineyard designate. So, the pedigree of this fruit is very high for a broader appellation bottling.

‘It’s also important to note that I give the Dundee Hills 14-20 months in barrel. In many cases, entry-level wines are bottled in August out of convenience or necessity in some cases.’

Willamette Valley 2022: top five Pinot Noir values:

Arterberry Maresh, Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills 96pts

Hundred Suns, Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills 96pts

Evesham Wood, Cuvée, Eola-Amity Hills 95pts

Haden Fig, Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mt Pisgah 95pts

Bethel Heights, Estate Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, 94pts

A commitment to place

No one may produce more under-$50 wines of such tremendous quality than Erin Nuccio, who operates and makes the wines for the historic Evesham Wood and his more recent brand, Haden Fig. For him, it’s all about making wines of place.

Nuccio makes delicious Pinot Noirs, with classic Willamette Valley character at prices as low as $26.

‘The short answer is that I strongly believe that great wine belongs on every table,’ says Nuccio, ‘and I take great pride in striving to do that.’

The longer answer is that Nuccio’s philosophy follows in the footsteps of Russ Rainey, who founded the Evesham Wood winery in 1986. Nuccio then took ownership of Evesham Wood from the Rainey family in 2010.

‘Russ and I both started on the retail side of the wine business, and we cut our teeth tasting hundreds of wines a month, looking for exceptional value from wines worldwide. When he started Evesham Wood, he keenly remembered his retail roots, focusing on producing wines he could afford to buy and drink regularly,’ says Nuccio.

‘When I decided to start my winery, Haden Fig, in 2007,’ he continues, ‘I too was driven by the potential the Willamette Valley had to produce amazing Pinot Noir with a real sense of place.’

See the Willamette Valley 2022 Top 100 score table

‘I get a real sense of fulfilment from producing our Willamette Valley bottlings. We produce those cuvées exactly like our top single vineyards – carefully selected vineyards farmed organically and without irrigation, hand-picked and carefully sorted.

‘The only real difference is the length of time in the barrel. Bottling the Willamette Valley blend right before harvest frees up essential space and barrels, which allows us to keep costs down.’

He concludes: ‘When we had the opportunity to expand our estate vineyards a few years ago, we did so with the deliberate intention of expanding our Willamette Valley bottling production.

‘We started our vineyard search not in the highly regarded and sought sub-AVAs but in the lesser-known pockets of the greater Willamette Valley, where we felt we could find great value and a great sense of place to expand our Willamette Valley bottling.’

Intentionality counts

’I’ve always believed that if you are going to put your name on the label, then the wine is good, full stop,’ says second-generation winemaker Ben Casteel of Bethel Heights. ‘We work on blending our Estate Pinot Noir first to ensure it isn’t simply what is left in the cellar when the other wines are finished but a deliberate wine that speaks to our vineyard, the growing season, and the cellaring that followed.’

‘I grow grapes and make wine for a living, but I’m also a consumer, and I find myself drawn to producers not based on their higher price point, vineyard or block-specific wines, but by the entry-level wine they are putting their name on. When it is evident the attention to detail isn’t reserved for a handful of wines but the entire lineup, that resonates with me.’

The Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noirs should resonate with wine lovers looking for a great deal in a variety that has long been considered too expensive to provide true value. These wines will undoubtedly challenge that perception and make the case for wines of place still being affordable enough to have on every table.

Willamette Valley 2022: a lucky selection of 13 Pinot Noir values

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 ‘While the 2021 vintage Chardonnays showed an immediacy of brilliant character, the elegance and precision imbued in these white wines from the long, cool, and at times, tumultuous 2022 vintage should prove to be even better over time.’

The difficulties that beset the early part of the 2022 growing season had the most significant impact on Chardonnay in the Willamette Valley.

A significant freeze event occurred early on the morning of 15 April, and owing to its ripening early, the Chardonnay buds were further along and bore the brunt of the damage. The early prognostications were grim. However, things were nowhere near as dire as they were initially reported – anywhere from 50% to a total loss for the vintage.

Perhaps winemaker Kate Payne Brown put it best.

‘Chardonnay from the 2022 vintage tells a story of unexpected resilience,’ she says.

Scroll down for top-scoring Willamette Valley Chardonnays of the 2022 vintage

‘In late April, an unseasonably late frost and snowstorm hit the Dundee Hills, affecting many Chardonnay vines that had already gone through bud break. I vividly recall walking through our lower Chardonnay blocks right after the frost, where there were singed leaves and some of the buds resembled overcooked asparagus.

‘It was emotional, unlike anything I’d experienced before in the Valley. At that point, I was uncertain about what the harvest would yield.’

The great rebound

She continues: ‘My friends in Burgundy predicted that we’d only see 10-20% of our usual yields from secondary and tertiary buds but maintained that the following year would be more fruitful. I braced myself for very light yields and potentially unbalanced fruit.

‘To our surprise, the vines rebounded with much more fruit than anticipated; in fact, the clusters were big. The season shifted by about a month as the vines recovered from the frost, leading us to pick Chardonnay roughly 2.5 weeks later than usual.’

For me, the Chardonnays of the Willamette Valley continue to be, perhaps, among the most under-appreciated gems in wine; certainly among American wines.

While the 2021 vintage Chardonnays showed an immediacy of brilliant character, the elegance imbued in these white wines from the long, cool, and, at times, tumultuous vintage should prove to be even better over time.

These Chardonnays have such beautiful acids. Combined with the textures that the vintage’s thicker skins have augmented, they are real classics that Chardonnay fans from Oregon and beyond will relish.

A collector’s vintage as well, as these wines are sure to age beautifully, despite already offering a very rich drinking experience.

As the grape continues to show such a natural affinity for the Willamette Valley’s growing conditions and the volcanic soils present throughout the valley, and particularly in the Eola-Amity Hills, it may very well become the country’s go-to region for the variety.

2022 in the Willamette Valley: 5/5

A cool and wet spring, including an early April frost, made winemakers nervous that there would be adequate heat to reach phenolic ripeness. A warmer-than-average and, more importantly, completely dry October was just what the doctor ordered for Willamette Valley’s growers and winemakers.

The resulting wines show great freshness and structure at lower alcohols, with acidity that hints at outstanding ageability.

See all 280+ Willamette Valley 2022 tasting notes and scores

Defying expectations

‘The Chardonnay from the 2022 vintage really exceeded my expectations,’ says Daniel Estrin, winemaker at Cristom Estate.

‘The cool weather helped us retain acid in spades,’ he continues. ‘Being able to nail the pick is the most important decision we make in the winemaking process. The slow ascension of brix combined with the retention of acid allowed us to get the grapes off at the intersection of ripeness and freshness.

‘Once in the winery, we do everything we can to retain the potential of the grapes at the time of harvest.’

Jackson Holstein, winemaker and proprietor at Granville, adds: ‘The 2022 vintage yielded some of the most compact, textured, yet precise and age-worthy Chardonnays this valley has seen. That duality doesn’t always exist.

‘While that early April frost delayed many vines, most rebounded in a heroic manner,’ he continues.

‘The fall weather brought little relief from the heat, nor did it provide any moisture to replenish the vines. As a result, skins were thicker than usual, while mildly ripe flavours consolidated with relatively high acids (tartaric, specifically). It was somewhat of a perfect vigneron soup of flavours and freshness.’

‘If 2021 was a hot vintage masquerading as a cool one, 2022 is very much the opposite: a cool growing season that ended not just warm but hot,’ says Bethel Heights winemaker Ben Casteel. ‘The distinction is especially important for Chardonnay, where the difference between wines of tension versus wines of opulence can be decided in a couple of days.’

‘At Bethel Heights, in 2021, we were able to wait on Chardonnay as late September and early October were cool, allowing for flavour development without losing acidity or rapid sugar accumulation,’ Casteel continues.

‘In 2022, everything was compressed, given the late-season heat, so we were scrambling to pick grapes that would make wines of balance and grace. I feel great about our wines from 2022 as a testament to our vineyard and our production team. Still, one of the defining elements of 2022 is that while we needed the late-season heat for Pinot Noir, the window for taut, energetic, world-class Chardonnay was a narrow one indeed.’

See the Willamette Valley 2022 Top 100 score table

Willamette Valley 2022: top 10 Chardonnays of the vintage:

Reviews in the link

Walter Scott, X Novo Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 98pts

Ambar Estate, Lustral Chardonnay, Dundee Hills 97pts

Arterberry Maresh, Chardonnay, Dundee Hills 97pts

Composition, Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 97pts

Cristom, Louise Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 97pts

Evening Land, Summum Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 97pts

Nicolas-Jay, Bishop Creek Chardonnay, Yamhill Carlton 97pts

Bergström, Sigrid, Willamette Valley 96pts

Granville, Koosah Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 96pts

Hundred Suns, Marianas Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 96pts

Willamette Valley 2022 Chardonnay: a selection of 20 wines

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TOP WINES

Our North America Regional Editor, Clive Pursehouse, has assessed the 2022 vintage in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for his top 100 Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.

Wines are listed in score order.

 ‘The 2022 Chardonnays are imbued with great elegance, and the Pinot Noirs show an outstanding confidence across the Valley’s appellations. The cool and prolonged growing season has helped create wines with tremendous freshness that are balanced with ample concentration.’

The 2022 growing season got off to a shaky start but ended brilliantly in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

The season began with an ill-timed frost in the early morning hours of 15 April. The spring freeze caused significant damage to primary buds.

As an early-ripening variety, Chardonnay was the most impacted, particularly in parts of the northern Willamette Valley, like the Dundee Hills and Yamhill-Carlton, where bud break was already further along.

There was plenty of handwringing up and down the Willamette in the immediate aftermath of the spring frost. Nonetheless, many growers reported yields similar to those of an average growing season come harvest time.

There would be a few more twists and turns before the season was through, but – it stuck the landing.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the top Willamette Valley 2022 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

‘I never want to diminish the challenges of a vintage,‘ says Bethel Heights winemaker Ben Casteel, ‘as we are all affected differently; the valley is 3.5 million acres [1.4m hectares], after all.

‘But we hadn’t had a significant frost event in the Willamette Valley since 1985, a distant memory for the most seasoned growers. Yet, some were speaking with the countenance of authority that half of the crop was gone in April.’

In the end, larger clusters and resilient secondary buds, as well as perhaps some premature doom and gloom, made for an outstanding vintage despite the early difficulties.

2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs of the vintage

Arterberry Maresh, Weber Vineyard Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills 98pts

Hundred Suns, Own-Rooted Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 98pts

2022 Willamette Valley Chardonnay of the vintage

Walter Scott, X Novo Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 98pts

See all 280+ Willamette Valley 2022 tasting notes and scores

A waiting game ensues

Despite three extraordinarily warm days, June 2022 was an extremely cool month overall in the Willamette Valley. The high daytime temperatures did not reliably rise above the 60s (over 20°C) until 21 June.This proved vexing for winemakers.

‘It was the vintage that almost didn’t happen,’ says Evan Martin of Martin Woods. ‘We just barely got there before it was raining cats and dogs on 22 October. We had the coldest May on record and a classic Pacific-Northwest “June-uary”. The moderate summer that followed meant we weren’t making it up.’

Cristom’s winemaker, Daniel Estrin, remarks: ‘As we came into September, we were still going through veraison in much of the Cristom Estate. While many of Oregon’s typical harvests have rain during the last push, I was really concerned that we were going to get a significant rain event while we were still at low brix.

‘This would mean we would try to hang it to get some more ripeness, which would likely end with significant rot.’

‘Additionally,’ Estrin continues, ‘going through veraison late and then picking a short time later due to the warmth could lead to unripe tannins, particularly stem tannin, which we rely on so heavily. Luckily, this premonition did not come true, and we had a beautiful warm September followed by a dry October until late in the month.’

Good fortune, and perhaps Mother Nature’s penchant for Oregon Pinot Noir, meant that dreadfully cold May was bookended by a glorious October.

Martin concludes: ‘By the first of October, we weren’t even to sparkling numbers. If it had been a typical Oregon October, we wouldn’t have picked the grapes, to be honest with you.’

See the top 100 Pinot Noir and Chardonnays from the 2022 vintage

Willamette Valley vintage ratings

2022 5/5

A cool and wet spring, including an early April frost, made winemakers nervous that there would be adequate warmth to reach phenolic ripeness. A warmer-than-average and, more importantly, completely dry October was just what the doctor ordered for Willamette Valley’s growers and winemakers. The resulting wines show great freshness and structure at lower alcohols, with acidity that hints at outstanding ageability.

2021 4/5

After a challenging 2020, growers and winemakers were rewarded with a vintage of outstanding quality, albeit with slightly lower yields. Up and down the Willamette Valley and across different grape varieties, wines show ample ripeness and freshness, and there is plenty of elegance from top producers.

2020 2/5

A picture-perfect vintage was all but destroyed by wildfire smoke from the high pressure and wind event around the Labor Day weekend (5-6 September). Many wineries did not even produce red wine in 2020; those that did saw varied impacts from smoke taint. There were some well-made white wines, Chardonnay in particular.

2019 5/5

While yields were lower, 2019 was a throwback to the classically cool and elegant vintages that made the Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noirs famous. For the first time in recent memory, temperatures were lower than the year prior, and there were late rains. For long-standing winemakers, it was a return to the good old days.

A perfect finish

As the saying goes, it’s not how you start that’s important, but where you finish. The 2022 vintage in the Willamette Valley had a finish that was simply perfect.

‘In all, it was a cool year with the warmest October I can remember,’ says Jimmy Maresh, second-generation winemaker at Arterberry-Maresh. ‘It was like paradise in Oregon, with 75° days (24°C) and blue skies.’

Ultimately, that finish made for a beautiful vintage. For many in the valley, the long, cool start to summer was reminiscent of an earlier time. There was some pest pressure and concern about birds.

Still, by October, generally healthy crop loads, particularly for Pinot Noir, made the cold complications of an April frost and chilly May seem like distant memories.

The 2022 Chardonnays are imbued with great elegance, and the Pinot Noirs show outstanding confidence across the Valley’s appellations. The cool and prolonged growing season has helped create wines with tremendous freshness that are balanced with ample concentration. A five-star vintage for the Willamette Valley.

‘This is a vintage that definitely has more tension,’ says Jean-Nicolas Méo of Nicolas-Jay.

‘While I wouldn’t call the previous year (2021) a super-warm vintage, it came across as sturdier or more ripe. 2022, on the other hand, shows a more natural balance with its acids and is more ethereal and lighter-weight.

‘It’s a brilliant combination of ripeness and tension. It’s a dynamic vintage in Oregon, and the wines will improve over the next few years.’

Willamette Valley 2022: a selection from our top-scoring wines

The following wines scored 95 points or above and are listed white then red in score order.

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• Composition: A Willamette Valley project from DRC’s Bertrand de Villaine and Katrina Rank
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‘It all started in a class I was taking in Burgundy in 2016,’ says winemaker Katrina Rank about her winemaking partnership with de Villaine: Composition.

On that day in Burgundy, Rank had asked Bertrand de Villaine if he’d ever considered making wine from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a proven sweet spot for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

As it turned out, de Villaine, part of the family that owns and runs the most famous domaine in Burgundy – Domaine de la Romanée-Conti – had first fallen in love with wine not in Burgundy as one might expect, but in Willamette.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the Composition 2022 vintage

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de Villaine and Rank in the Composition barrel room. Credit: Composition

A French icon’s Oregon roots

In 1995, a young Bertrand de Villaine was a college business student who accepted a one-semester exchange programme at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon.

‘In fact, I had the chance to meet many people in Oregon when I was there as a student in the mid-nineties,’ de Villaine recalls. ‘These were some of the winemakers who are now recognised for the quality of what they have helped establish.’

‘People like David Adelsheim,’ he continues. ‘These people started working there in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. It was not long after Drouhin had started producing wine there when I arrived.’

‘I’m not a prophet,’ de Villaine explains, ‘but I just saw these people doing so much at such a pivotal time for that region. These were really the founders who were doing the difficult work. Work which was done here in Burgundy thousands of years ago.’

‘Of course, this was my first wine training, to be honest, because, at that time, I was not even thinking of being part of the wine industry,’ de Villaine admits.

His experience with David Adelsheim as a young student in the Willamette Valley was pivotal. ‘I always say that it was the place that planted the seed, the idea of wine in me. It’s sincere because I didn’t have any connection with wine at that moment except meeting some winemakers in Oregon.’

The headstrong American

Katrina Rank came to Napa Valley in 1999 and studied art before eventually transitioning to an oenology and wine curriculum. Rank started making wines in the Chalone AVA in Monterey, California, which had been founded by winemaker Dick Graff in the 1960s .

Graff’s Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays showed the way forward for fine Burgundian varieties in California. When Rank’s winemaking career began in earnest, the persistent state of drought in California was casting that promise into doubt.

Rank began to cast her eyes northwards to other cool climate regions where she could get the results she wanted.

‘By the time I started making wine there [in California], the drought was almost in its fifth or sixth year. And so, I already had eyes on Oregon and moving the operation,’ Rank says.

Meeting in Burgundy

The meeting of Rank and de Villaine was pure serendipity. As it happened, de Villaine – like many Burgundians before him – had already begun to ponder the possibility of an Oregon project when Rank popped up with her suggestion.

‘There was the seed of an idea that had been around for a long time, but meeting Katrina was the catalyst for an Oregon project to become a reality,’ says de Villaine.

‘The happenstance of Bertrand mentioning that he and his wife were considering doing something in the Willamette Valley was undeniable,’ Rank says. ‘It was something where they were scratching at the surface, not necessarily realising the possibility of actually making it happen. I said, look, “it’s all right there”.’

‘We met up a couple of months later in Oregon in 2016,’ Rank reveals. ‘Before we met, I had spent a good amount of time on our sourcing and researching vineyards because that was a focus of what we would be doing. And so that by the time Bertrand arrived, I had already brought it down to about three after going through about 15 vineyards.’

Composing the wines

There was a cultural push and pull to the project. ‘It was my American, “let’s make it happen”,’ says Rank, ‘to Bertrand’s, “let’s slow down a little bit, Katrina. It’s not a race”.’

‘I wanted to see it all,’ says Rank, ‘I wanted to look from top to bottom, and Oregon has so much growth potential. Initially, we sourced from one vineyard for our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. That was Winter’s Hill, which Bertrand felt very comfortable with, given the Drouhin family’s relationship with that site.’

‘Since the 2021 vintage,’ Rank continued, ‘we source from two other vineyards, and we’re delighted with how the wines have turned out.’

The Chardonnay comes from a single vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, older dry-farmed and biodynamic vines. The Pinot Noir comes from one of Oregon’s legacy sites in the Chehalem Mountain appellation, which is confusingly named Chehalem Mountain Vineyard.

Dick Erath planted it during the founding of the Willamette Valley, and it remains planted on its own-roots and biodynamically farmed.

Despite the distance, the language barriers and the odd philosophical difference, the foundations are universally agreed upon when it comes to making great wine.

‘We try to do what we both understand,’ de Villaine says. ‘The combination of soils and weather, the terroir; this is really the framework that we must work within.’

Rank was heavily involved in the winemaking when the brand launched in 2016, but the baton has been passed to Thomas Savre of Lingua Franca, who has the duo’s complete confidence.

The wines themselves are wonderfully composed. Elegance and site come to the fore in two wines, each expressing some of the Willamette Valley’s best-matched sites for their respective varieties.

The stellar 2022 wines from Composition

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The wineries’ lawsuit alleged that PacifiCorp’s refusal to cut off power to lines in a severe windstorm contributed to the fires that had deleterious effects on the 2020 vintage.

Wildfire smoke can damage wine by tainting the grapes; a phenomenon known as ‘smoke taint.’ It is particularly problematic with red wines in the maceration process.

As a result of the fires and intense and lingering wildfire smoke, many Willamette Valley wineries sold off wine in bulk, declassified wines, made white Pinot Noirs and, in the worst cases, made no wine at all.

Adam Campbell, second-generation owner and winemaker at Elk Cove Vineyards, said, ‘My gut tells me that the total production was probably cut in half across the valley.’

Campbell added, ‘At the time, we were mostly focused on how we honour our contracts with growers, get the grapes in and try and make something salvageable.

‘Subsequent to managing all of that, we learned that there were things that could have been done to mitigate some of the fires that PacifiCorp chose not to do. This lawsuit is about holding people accountable.’

However, the facts of the case would ultimately have to be decided upon by a jury.

PacifiCorp hasn’t directly commented on the case, although it told Associated Press that it was committed to settling all reasonable claims ‘as provided under Oregon law’.

Thus far, PacifiCorp has made several settlements regarding the wildfires. Earlier this week, the company’s Pacific Power business said it had reached a $178m settlement with 403 plaintiffs, in which the vast majority of plaintiffs opted out of class action litigation.

‘The company has settled nearly 1,500 Labor Day 2020 wildfire claims with individuals and businesses in California and Oregon and will continue to settle all reasonable claims,’ the group said.

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Dustin Dow, one of the attorneys representing several Willamette Valley wineries and vineyards that have smoke damage claims against PacifiCorp arising from the Labor Day 2020 fires, told Decanter: ‘Our clients are bringing these claims because PacifiCorp’s actions caused at least seven fires throughout Oregon on 7 and 8 September, 2020. These fires were a substantial factor in damaging our clients’ grapes and wine with smoke taint.’

It’s understood from Dow’s comments that a key issue regarding the complaint is the extent to which fires may have been caused or exacerbated by PacifiCorp leaving power lines energised.

Elk Cove’s Campbell said winemakers tried to make the best of a very difficult situation, but still saw a big impact from the wildfires.

‘We felt like we made some good decisions to mitigate some of the problems,’ he said. ‘In reality, in the best cases, our yields were cut in half. I know we made good wine; we wouldn’t have released it if we hadn’t.’

Campbell added, ‘We followed the research out of Australia about reducing press fractions, making more rosé, and pressing lighter. All of that impacted the amount of wine we were able to make.

‘We sold off wine as a lot of bulk wine and, in some cases, didn’t make wine from the most affected vineyards. Less extraction, lighter pressing – we tried it all. We even used milk products for fining; we did things we would never do. We salvaged what we could, but there was a lot of loss. We didn’t make reserve or single vineyard wines that vintage, which was a blow financially.’

Of the lawsuit, Campbell said, ‘Our goal here is to hold people to account. We’re not interested in jumping the line in front of people who lost their homes or entire timberland that was devastated. We’re aware that we lost half of one vintage and that some people lost everything.’

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A first in its 38 years of existence, the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) has chosen a media partner, Decanter magazine, in a pivotal year for the event –one of America’s longest-running wine celebrations.

The weekend of 26-28 July 2024 will mark an historic final IPNC weekend, as organisers have designs on pivoting to a different format for the event.

IPNC is a one-of-a-kind wine event held in McMinnville, Oregon that brings an array of Pinot Noir producers from around the world to the campus of Linfield University and the hillside vineyards of the Willamette Valley. The three-day immersive experience includes names like Burgundy’s revered Domaine des Comtes Lafon, CHACRA from Patagonia, and many Oregon and California producers, including Sonoma’s Three Sticks and Oregon stalwarts, Bethel Heights and Beaux Frères.

‘I was part of the first IPNC in 1987,’ said Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon. ‘This celebration was key for the strong relationships between the burgeoning wine industry in Oregon and Burgundy. The event also puts the spotlight on Pinot Noir worldwide. I’ll be happy to participate in this wonderful event one more time with my family.’

Attendees will have access to in-depth, up-close wine education with some of the world’s biggest names in Pinot Noir. Raj Parr will provide the keynote address. The Grand Seminar, moderated by Karen MacNeil, will explore Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Champagne to Burgundy to South America and the US West Coast. There will be vineyard tours and intimate University of Pinot seminars.

The meals at IPNC include food prepared by some of the Northwest’s best chefs and deep verticals of Pinot Noir from the extensive IPNC library collection.

Guests may purchase tickets for individual events, including the Sunday Sparkling Brunch, the IPNC Salmon Bake, or the entire weekend.

Decanter’s North America editor, Clive Pursehouse, will be in attendance. IPNC represents an excellent opportunity for Decanter to speak with American wine lovers as the publication seeks to expand further into the US market, having launched a US team almost two years ago.

‘We are thrilled to have the sponsorship and support of Decanter magazine for the 2024 event,’ said Thomas Savre, president of the IPNC board, and winemaker for Lingua Franca. ‘This collaboration not only validates our event’s exceptional quality and reputation but also underscores our shared commitment to promoting excellence in the world of wine.’

‘This event is beloved by the industry and Pinot Noir fans. I am looking forward to celebrating one more time with the guests and some of the best Pinot Noir makers from all over the world. IPNC may be closing a chapter, but the book still has many pages to be written,’ Savre added.

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• The sommelier suggests… Oregon Pinot Gris by Ron Acierto
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Ron Acierto is wine & beverage director at the Tributary Hotel’s ōkta restaurant in McMinnville, Oregon. He is an Imbibe 75 Person to Watch for 2024, as voted by Imbibe magazine in the US.

I have long had an affinity for this lovely wine. In my native Philippines, the national beverage is beer. Growing up, I never dreamed that wine would be part of my career path. Most Filipino households never even had bottles of liquor or beer at home, and drinking alcohol was something you did only on special occasions.

My first encounter with wine occurred when I worked in food and wine at a family friend’s retirement home in Indiana, USA and I built on this with more exposure to fine wines through various food service jobs. After moving to Oregon wine country in 2005, I immersed myself in learning all about the wines of Willamette Valley, while working first at Cherry Hill winery in the Eola-Amity Hills, and then in management at some of Portland’s finest restaurants.

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are considered the king and queen of Willamette Valley wine grapes, but I also became curious about Pinot Gris, which is planted throughout Oregon. When working in restaurants in Portland, I noticed that Pinot Gris wasn’t usually highlighted on wine lists. The perception was that it was less interesting as a variety, perhaps because it was so widely available, and at a lower price point than other whites. Yet, over the last decade, I’ve gained more respect for this wine and grown to love its many expressions.

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I’ve offered Pinot Gris as a glass pour at ōkta restaurant in downtown McMinnville since it opened in July 2022. The Eyrie Estate Pinot Gris 2021 is delicious with our ōkta carrot snack with farro waffle tart shell, served with miso. It was also an excellent match for a dish on last year’s menu: wild sea bream, radishes, watercress and shiitake mushrooms. And it seems to be gaining more traction in general, with wine merchants introducing drinkers to more producers and styles of the grape.

Most consumers don’t know that Pinot Gris is the result of a genetic mutation that occurred in Pinot Noir. Their DNA profiles are remarkably similar; the colouration of the leaves and grape skin are the main differences. Many of the wine producers with whom I’ve opened bottles of Pinot Gris over the years have learned to coax the best expressions from this grape. Starting in the 1960s, David Lett planted Pinot Gris at Eyrie Vineyards in the Dundee Hills AVA. Its wines have always been rich in texture and flavour, balanced between fruit and acidity, and a versatile pairing.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris wines have demonstrated great ageability. Jason Lett, the late David’s son, recently poured a 1982 bottling, and I still remember its texture and richness, the lingering aroma of caramelised white fruit – tasted blind, I would probably have guessed Chardonnay, though the acidity and freshness were still distinguishable. I wish that more local producers would vinify their Pinot Gris to age in the same way that the great grand cru Pinot Gris wines of Alsace do.

Pinot Gris vinified with skin contact shows another aspect to the grape – look out for wines from Antiquum Farm and Big Table Farm. Aromas of these wines range from fresh flowers to candied fruits. At ōkta, we pair this style with the flavours of umami, sashimi-style seafood and chef larder-fermented root vegetables. It brings out the best in the food and highlights the wine’s acidity and lingering mouthfeel.

In general, I pair young Pinot Gris with shellfish and summer salads with white stone fruits. Meanwhile, wines with age would pair beautifully with spring and summer grilled vegetables. Pinot Gris will also hold up with your backyard barbecues, as well as charcoal-roasted chicken.

Discovering Pinot Gris: Acierto’s top picks

Jason Lett at Oregon’s Eyrie Vineyards has continued to make Pinot Gris to the same high quality as his father David, who died in 2008. The 2021 and 2022 Eyrie Pinot Gris ($US30 eyrievineyards.com) are both drinking beautifully now, with bright acidity, but will definitely get better with age. The richness in the mouthfeel and the balance of summer fruits make it the perfect bottle to take to your friends’ spring and summer dinners. Pair with tomato salad, grilled root vegetables and grilled whole fish with chimichurri-inspired sauces.

Some skin-contact Pinot Gris wines are made in a way that gives a dark rosé or lighter style red in the glass. The Ltd+ Wines project, run by husband and wife Bree and Chad Stock, sees grapes sourced from David Hill Winery, which owns some of the oldest vines planted in Forest Grove, just west of Portland. Introducing their Old Vine Skin Fermented Pinot Gris 2022 (currently US$42 for the 2021 on limitedadditionwines.com), the winemakers themselves describe it as neither a red wine nor what might typically be described as an ‘orange’ wine, ‘but utterly its own unique self and completely captivating’. It has definitely captivated me, and I’d pair it with any preparation of pork, as well as rotisserie chicken. I’ve recently cooked my personal version of Filipino chop suey – shrimps and pork mince stir fried with vermicelli rice noodles – and it balances the umami flavours of these dishes perfectly. Or just savour it on its own while reading a great novel on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

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