Oregon Chardonnay: top producers to know and wines to try

Once reviled, Chardonnay is today the secret weapon in Oregon’s winemaking arsenal. Wine lovers searching for a crisp, fresh white that can age have traditionally turned to Burgundy. But with the popularity of white Burgundy exploding and prices soaring (especially with the effect of tariffs in the US), many are looking at alternatives.

And Oregon might just fit the bill. Although the Willamette Valley is nearly halfway around the world from Burgundy, there are striking similarities. One in particular: wines made from Chardonnay in both places can be shockingly good.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s pick of the best Oregon Chardonnay wines, or click here for his top Oregon Pinot Noir buys

Similar but different

The fundamental reasons for the association owe more to chance than to geology. Robert Drouhin was an early convert. In the 1970s, the then-head of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy had been introduced to Oregon wine and organised a comparative tasting in Burgundy. By 1986 he had convinced his newly graduated daughter Véronique to intern in Oregon.

They organised internships at Bethel Heights, The Eyrie Vineyards and Adelsheim. These wineries were among the pioneers of the Oregon wine industry. In 1970, there were only five commercial wineries in the state; today there are more than 700. It was Adelsheim that alerted Robert Drouhin to the availability of the vineyard site in Dundee Hills that in 1987 became Domaine Drouhin Oregon.

Véronique Drouhin is quick to point out both similarities and differences between her native Burgundy and Oregon. ‘It’s a cool climate – that is the reason we went to Oregon,’ she says. ‘But the volcanic soil is so different.’ For her, it was an experience of discovery. The initial Drouhin estate was in the Dundee Hills AVA on a type of volcanic soil called Jory. Early Oregon vintners prized the Jory soils, which gave a distinctive elegance to the wines. ‘But I wouldn’t say minerality,’ remarks Drouhin. ‘That belongs to Chablis.’

For the next Drouhin project, called Roserock, Drouhin acquired land in Eola-Amity Hills AVA, just to the east of a break in the Coast Range known as the Van Duzer Corridor. The soils are shallower, but they are also complex – in addition to Jory, there are Nekia soils, a mixture of marine sedimentary and alluvial material. Unlike the Dundee Hills, it is open to the cooling influence of the Pacific ocean through that gap in the mountains. This combination of soil and climate provides a perfect terroir for growing Chardonnay.

See all 37 new Oregon Chardonnay scores and tasting notes.

Personal connections

One touchstone for Oregon Chardonnay is the Seven Springs Vineyard, planted in 1984 by Al MacDonald. In 2007, ownership passed to a group that included Hollywood director Mark Tarlov, restaurateur Danny Meyer and Burgundy’s Domaine Jacques Prieur. This team formed the winery Evening Land, run today by sommelier Rajat Parr and winemaker Sashi Moorman. Parr believes in the site. ‘I said to Sashi: “This is the hill of Corton – we have to plant this whole hill to Chardonnay”.’ Evening Land makes three Chardonnays here. One is a blend from blocks throughout the vineyard, and two are site-specific to a particular vein of volcanic soil.

Dominique Lafon of Meursault was also quick to recognise the potential. He began to consult for Evening Land in 2007. He explains that at that time, producers of Oregon Chardonnay looked for very ripe fruit. Dissatisfied with the wines, he pushed his reluctant owners to pick earlier. When he harvested Chardonnay as he liked, Lafon found the results surprisingly good: ‘I said, oh my God, this is amazing! This has tension, this has balance, this is fresh, this is pure – this is incredible!’

Master Sommelier Larry Stone managed Evening Land during Lafon’s consultancy. He left when he had the opportunity to purchase the property across the street, and began to plant grapes intending to sell the fruit. Lafon joined him as a consultant in 2015, convincing Stone to launch a winery to vinify the fruit himself. Their joint project, called Lingua Franca, was born. Lafon is happy with the results, which he finds very close to Burgundy. ‘We have the same type of pH we have in Burgundy, even more so for Chardonnay than for Pinot Noir,’ he says.

Oregon Chardonnay producers: the leading names to know

00 [Double Zero]

Wine-loving lawyer Chris Hermann decided to take the plunge and produce Burgundy-inspired wines beginning with the 2015 vintage. He and his wife work with Burgundy-based consultant Pierre Millemann to create a range of wines. The flagship VGW (Very Good White) has the largest production at about 1,000 cases. The EGW (Extra Good White) uses some old-vine fruit, and the superb Freya Hermann Cuvée is a single-vineyard wine from Seven Springs Vineyard. The style of the wines is slightly reductive and generously wooded. The whites are inspired by Coche-Dury, while the delicious Pinot Noirs pay homage to Domaine Leroy.

Antica Terra

Winemaker Maggie Harrison, formerly of Sine Qua Non, takes the lead on this Oregon project. She uses Chardonnay sourced from the Shea Vineyard and four other sources to create a luxurious, exuberant style. She makes a strict selection of the fully ripe fruit, presses gently, and carefully ferments in cask, through full malolactic and generous ageing. The top wine, Aequorin, is rare but worth the search. Pinot Noirs are equally hedonistic – and just as sought after.

Bergström

Oregon local Josh Bergström completed wine studies in Beaune before returning to establish a vineyard with his family. Today they own nearly 30ha of vineyards in the Ribbon Ridge, Chehalem Mountains and Dundee Hills AVAs, all biodynamically farmed. The winery uses no sulphur and very little new wood. The Chardonnay style is pure, clean and fresh.

Domaine Drouhin

Véronique Drouhin was one of the original Burgundian pioneers of the Willamette Valley, arriving in 1986. She still makes the wines, and her brother Philippe manages the vineyards – more than 50ha, all certified as sustainably farmed. The whites are whole-cluster-pressed and gently fermented, half in cask and half in tank. For the Domaine Drouhin bottling, the malolactic fermentation is blocked for the tank-fermented portion so that the wine retains a vibrant freshness. The red wines, as in Burgundy, are destemmed and gently extracted before ageing in cask.

Domaine Serene

The Evenstad family initially won acclaim for their Pinot Noirs from the Dundee Hills. With the purchase of the Côte Sud vineyard in 1997, this renowned producer launched its lauded Chardonnay program. Now Domaine Serene has nearly 30ha planted to this grape. The wines are produced in a dedicated gravity-flow winery and include a full complement of single-vineyard wines from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, in addition to wines blended from various estate vineyards. The style is lush, sensual and substantial.

Evening Land

Initially planted in 1984 with own-rooted vines, Evening Land has been considerably retooled by sommelier Raj Parr, winemaker Sashi Moorman and their partners. The Chardonnay from their iconic Seven Springs Vineyard in Eola-Amity Hills AVA is a reference throughout the state. Their two single-parcel bottlings, La Source and Summum, are as close to the concept of lieu-dit as you will come in Oregon. Pinot Noirs are equally precise. Superb value in Oregon wine.

Lavinea

Winemaker Isabelle Meunier worked with Pascal Marchand at Domaine de la Vougeraie, and with Dominique Lafon at Evening Land. She left Evening Land to found Lavinea in 2014 with fellow Evening Land alumni Greg Ralston. The pair continues to work close to the Burgundian model, producing Chardonnay from Elton Vineyard in Eola-Amity Hills and Lazy River in Yamhill-Carlton in addition to Pinots from Temperance Hill, Elton, Nysa and Tualatin vineyards.

Lingua Franca

Master Sommelier Larry Stone has set up shop across the street from Evening Land in Eola-Amity Hills. The Janzen Ranch that he purchased in 2012 is adjacent to the Seven Springs Vineyard and shares a similar terroir. Dominique Lafon joined as the consulting winemaker in 2014, with Thomas Savre working alongside him locally. The wines are crisp, precise and as thrilling as anything in the region. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are equally successful at this solid address.

Morgen Long

Seth Morgen Long was raised in the Willamette Valley. A former student of sommelier Erica Landon (who founded Walter Scott with her husband Ken Pahlow), he has worked with some of the greatest names in Oregon, and at Domaine de Montille in Meursault with winemaker Brian Sieve. In 2013, he founded his eponymous winery to focus exclusively on Chardonnay. Customarily, fruit is crushed prior to pressing while exposed to oxygen and then run into large and small casks with a small proportion of new wood for fermentation on ambient yeast followed by a 18- to 20-month ageing.

Walter Scott

Walter Scott is the thriving new venture launched by wine salesman-turned-vintner Ken Pahlow and his wife Erica Landon. The pair started in 2009 with 600 cases, and now they source 10 times that amount from some of the most prestigious sites in Oregon, including Seven Springs, Freedom Hill and others. The Chardonnay style here is concentrated and citrusy, with strong saline notes – the most Chablis-like wine you will find in the Willamette Valley – while the Pinot Noirs are structured, firm and dense.

Oregon Chardonnay: the array of styles

Lafon also encouraged Jean-Nicolas Méo to begin a West Coast adventure of his own. In 2012 LA record executive Jay Boberg approached Méo about a project in Oregon. Two years later, they produced their first vintage under the Nicolas-Jay label.

At first, they planned to buy grapes, but a vineyard came up that was too good to pass up: Bishop Creek. Located in Yamhill-Carlton, it proved ideal. The south-facing site was planted in the 1980s and produces relatively mature fruit. Méo sees great potential here: ‘Oregon Chardonnay is really restarting with a style of its own, not at all following the California guidelines but experimenting along a Burgundian track.’

Ken Pahlow of Walter Scott Wines is another profoundly influenced by Dominique Lafon, having worked with him at Evening Land and for a harvest in Burgundy – he has modelled his work in Oregon on his experiences there.

‘In Burgundy, I noticed that the first five people to pick were Lalou Bize-Leroy, Arnaud Ente, Coche-Dury, Lafon and Roulot, and these had some of the lowest yields too,’ he says. ‘We decided with all our growers that we would aggressively thin the shoots.’ He practises long ageing in cask with a high percentage of lees to bring a hint of reduction. ‘We like a little reduction because we believe Willamette Valley Chardonnay is age-worthy,’ he says, echoing the sentiment of his mentor Lafon.

New World techniques

Maggie Harrison’s first job was as assistant winemaker to Manfred Krankl at Sine Qua Non; today she is the winemaker at Antica Terra. Her stance on picking couldn’t be more different.

She describes working with grower Dick Shea on the fruit for her first vintage of Chardonnay in 2011: ‘We let it hang until it tasted great; until the skins were golden and the seeds were brown; until it was filled with flavour and the acid felt super clear and sort of electric.’ Harrison picks when the acidity tastes right but leaves the grapes in baskets to continue to ripen. The results are lush and very luxurious.

For some producers, winemaking is almost more critical than terroir. Chris Hermann, owner of 00 (Double Zero) Wines, works with Burgundy-based consultant Pierre Millemann. Millemann picks early, foot-treads the grapes and macerates the juice and skins overnight before pressing. During the pressing, the must oxidises intentionally, turning dark. Hermann calls this the Black Chardonnay technique. The top wines see as much as 18 months in cask and the results are impressive, aided by the fact that Hermann’s extensive contacts in the Willamette Valley supply him with grapes from top sites, including Seven Springs.

Between the Burgundian invasion and the one from California, a diverse array of Chardonnay styles exist in Oregon. One thing is certain: consumers who love Chardonnay that is racy, lean and mineral but still concentrated are spoiled for choice. Producers that err on the side of lusciousness may be missing the point, but those who keep it fresh and don’t overdo the oak merit your full attention.

Oregon Chardonnay: Charles Curtis MW’s pick of the top wines to buy

The 22 wines below scored 93 points or above. See all 37 new Oregon Chardonnay scores and tasting notes.

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