Willamette Valley Pinot Gris: top producers and bottles to know

While it doesn’t enjoy the profile of Willamette Valley’s renowned Pinot Noir or rising star Chardonnay, Pinot Gris remains an important wine for the region’s growers and producers.

The acknowledged founding father of Willamette Valley, the late David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards, planted varieties based not on a Burgundian model but rather on what made climatic sense. Pinot Gris was a big part of those early calculations. In his 1992 speech entitled ‘The Emergence of Pinot Gris’, Lett joked that the variety was still emerging at the time, recalling the slow sales that Pinot Gris found in the early days at Eyrie.

Scroll down to see Michael Alberty’s selection of 23 top Willamette Valley Pinot Gris wines

He claimed to have bartered much of his annual 25-case production from 1971 to 1981 with regional salmon fishermen, given the tough time he had selling it.

Lett was responsible for America’s first commercial Pinot Gris. Bringing ‘about 160’ cuttings north from the University of California, Davis variety collection, these were among Eyrie’s original vineyard rows. There are now a few Pinot Gris wines coming from Oregon’s more southern wine-growing regions, primarily the Umpqua and Rogue Valleys, but only a handful. It is the Willamette Valley leading the charge.

Key styles

While it is a broadly cool growing region, the Willamette Valley AVA contains plenty of climatic variety – there are 11 sub-appellations as of 2022. Three styles have consequently emerged.

First are the nearly ubiquitous bright, fresh wines made in stainless steel that highlight their crisp, fruity character and zippy acidity. Secondly, there has also been a surge in skin-contact Pinot Gris, most (correctly) referred to as ramato. These wines follow the winemaking tradition of Italy’s Friuli region, specific to the Pinot Grigio grown there.

Finally, a few producers are making a style of Pinot Gris that’s more associated with the traditional wines of The Eyrie Vineyards. These are complex, ageworthy, premium-priced white wines, often from old vines or well-sited vineyards, using neutral oak or concrete.

Today, Pinot Gris is the second most widely planted variety in the state of Oregon (though it only represents about a quarter of the total of the state’s Pinot Noir). But, despite the volume, Pinot Gris seems to lag behind Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and arguably even Riesling when it comes to local cachet and buzz.

However, the global popularity of easy-drinking, wallet-friendly Italian Pinot Grigio has been an unexpected benefit: by comparison, Willamette Valley Pinot Gris has developed a national reputation thanks to its superior quality.

King Estate has almost single-handedly buoyed the variety’s market share, committing to the grape and producing more than 1.2 million bottles a year. The self-proclaimed ‘King of Pinot’ makes about 10 variations of Pinot Gris (all biodynamic), including single-vineyard and limited-availability cuvées. The grape’s popularity has helped fashion a broader Willamette style – approachable, aromatically fruit-forward, light-bodied, fresh, crisp and easy-drinking.

Perhaps equally importantly, these wines are affordable – often below $20 in the US market. Though also, perhaps, in the establishment of that signature style, Willamette Pinot Gris has hemmed itself in. Is this approachable, easy-drinking style the full realisation of the variety’s potential here? Does this ubiquity limit producers’ and consumers’ aspirations?

A fresh approach

Should there be any doubt about the potential of Willamette Pinot Gris to produce a more contemplative wine, look no further than The Eyrie Vineyards’ Original Vines Pinot Gris. Made with grapes from vines of more than 50 years old – the valley’s first – it has depth, seriousness and noteworthy ageability. It’s far more grand cru in its stature than easy-drinking.

For Eyrie’s second-generation winemaker and David’s son Jason Lett, however, there is a sense of frustration. ‘There was a time when Pinot Gris was being explored seriously for things like site specificity. Between what my father was doing and other pioneers such as Don Lange, there was a real commitment to making Pinot Gris with a sense of place.

‘That is not how the wine is being approached today. I believe the Willamette Valley is quite possibly the place where a kind of grand cru Pinot Gris can be made. It’s really about climate: Pinot Gris ripens best in cool conditions, and that’s what we have here. This is really where it belongs.’ Lett is excited about burgeoning producers who are raising the profile of Pinot Gris among new wine drinkers, sommeliers and chefs. Wineries such as Maloof and Fossil & Fawn are breathing new life into the variety. The focus on Pinot Gris at Fossil & Fawn is a nod back to David Lett’s 1992 speech in which he said: ‘It is high time viticulture and grape variety adaptation become the focus of premium winemaking on the West Coast.’

That spirit drives Fossil & Fawn’s Jim Fischer and Jenny Mosbacher. ‘We did not endeavour to revolutionise Pinot Gris in Oregon,’ Mosbacher says. ‘I wish I could say we did. Our mission from the beginning was to do our best to represent the care that went into tending the grapes by making the best wines we could.

Greater understanding

Skin-contact, ramato or vin gris wines are leading the next wave of Pinot Gris from the Willamette Valley. Electric-hued wines with mouthfeel and texture are a great fit for the new demographic of wine drinkers and the always-edgy Portland restaurant scene clamouring for orange wines.

For Fossil & Fawn, it’s not about being on trend, but treating the wine in a way that makes the most sense. ‘It’s wild to think that Santa Margherita [in Italy’s Alto Adige] is credited with making the first white Pinot Grigio in 1961,’ Mosbacher says. ‘Since 2014, we’ve been making Pinot Gris exactly as we do our Pinot Noir. For us, it makes sense to vinify these two varieties in the same way: to treat Pinot Gris with the same sort of reverence in the cellar as we do Pinot Noir.

‘As a wine community, now more than ever we have a greater understanding of the genetics of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris – the only difference being a few select pigment markers in the DNA.’

Thanks to its myriad sub-AVAs, styles and price points, Willamette Valley Pinot Gris offers a style for all – from the popular, affordable fresh and crisp Pinot Gris (in cans as well as bottles) to more earnest, ageworthy wines that reflect their terroir, as well as ramato-style wines for hipster wine bars. It’s time to find the one for you.

Five Willamette Valley producers to know

Selected by Michael Alberty

These talented young Pinot Gris producers have a lot in common. They largely avoid the Pinot Noir arena, are self-taught and their winemaking practices embrace skin contact, minimal intervention and modest alcohol.

Championship Bottle

Based in Amity, winemaker Saul Mutchnick makes a variety of minimal-intervention whites for his Championship label, including an exceptional Pinot Gris. In 2020, Mutchnick abandoned skin contact to make his Out on Love Pinot Gris as a white wine. Its clean, acid-driven beauty has Mutchnick thinking he might just keep his Pinot Gris white in future vintages.

Fair Moon Wine

Fair Moon is a one-woman natural winemaking operation out of Amity, where Jessica Wilmes believes Pinot Gris’ purpose in life is to be orange. Her debut skin-contact Pinot Gris, the Sunshine Effect 2020, is a worthy homage to two producers who inspire her: Gravner and Radikon. Wilmes added Auxerrois and Tinto Cão to her line-up in 2022, so keep an eye out.

Maloof Wines

Bee and Ross Maloof stay out of nature’s way as much as possible while making some of the Willamette Valley’s best Pinot Gris in Forest Grove. Before winemaking, Bee was a materials engineer in the aerospace industry, while Ross was a sommelier for a vegan restaurant in Philadelphia. They both love pizza, as their ‘eat pizza, suck glass’ winery motto makes clear.

Mujita Wine Co

Lizzy Esqueda’s first wine for her Mijita label is a skin-contact Pinot Gris aged in neutral oak and old acacia barrels. It is absolutely brilliant juice: I wish Pinot Gris lovers everywhere could taste it. Esqueda makes her wines at PDX Revolution in downtown Portland, one of the world’s few all-female winery incubator/cooperatives. Wherever Mijita moves next, I’m following. 2025 SE 7th Ave, Portland, OR 97214.

Varnum Vintners

Based in Amity, Cyler and Taralyn Varnum lighten their carbon footprint by using lighter 37.5cl glass beer bottles to house some of their red, white, pink and sparkling wines. My current favourite wine to serve from a beer bottle is a Pinot Gris rosé that was aged on its skins for two weeks. Innovation plus good wine is a winning equation.

Willamette Valley Pinot Gris: Michael Alberty’s top 23 wines to enjoy

Wines are listed in score order by style: sparkling, white, Ramato and skin-contact

Related articles

• Portland, Oregon: best bars and restaurants for wine lovers
• Oregon Chardonnay: top producers to know and wines to try
• Lower Long Tom: Oregon’s newest AVA