Oregon Pinot Comparison
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:59 pm
I went down to McMinnville, Oregon this weekend with my wife and another couple to do some Pinot tasting. I had one interesting experience that I thought I'd share. We visited ArborBrook Vineyards, a family-owned winery located on the southern flank of Yamhill County’s Chehalem Mountain range near Newberg, Oregon. Dave Hansen, the owner and winemaker greeted us when we arrived at the tasting room and led us through a really interesting tasting, including comparing different Pinot Noir clones.
We started talking about the geology of his vineyards, and he explained how the Willamette Valley was flooded about 40 times between 15,300 to 12,700 years ago, each flood depositing a layer of silt about 4 inches think. Eventually the layer of silt is about 30 feet think. However, it only covered the lower lying regions of the valley, up to about 420 feet in elevation. Below 420 feet, you have the layer of marine sediment ("Dupee"); above 420 feet, you have volcanic soil ("Jory").
Dave's vineyards lie at 380 feet, but he thought it would be interested to compare wines made from the same Pinot Noir clone (Dijon 777 Clone) both in Dupee soil and Jory soil. One of his neighboring vineyards above 420 feet gave him some Dijon Clone 777 grapes so that he could make the two wines for a side-by-side comparison.
Dave poured both wine for us to taste, and even had sample Dupee and Jory soil so we could see the difference. I didn't write tasting notes on these, but I think generally we preferred the Pinot grown in the Jory soil.
It was a great educational experience and a lot of fun to try these two wines.
We started talking about the geology of his vineyards, and he explained how the Willamette Valley was flooded about 40 times between 15,300 to 12,700 years ago, each flood depositing a layer of silt about 4 inches think. Eventually the layer of silt is about 30 feet think. However, it only covered the lower lying regions of the valley, up to about 420 feet in elevation. Below 420 feet, you have the layer of marine sediment ("Dupee"); above 420 feet, you have volcanic soil ("Jory").
Dave's vineyards lie at 380 feet, but he thought it would be interested to compare wines made from the same Pinot Noir clone (Dijon 777 Clone) both in Dupee soil and Jory soil. One of his neighboring vineyards above 420 feet gave him some Dijon Clone 777 grapes so that he could make the two wines for a side-by-side comparison.
Dave poured both wine for us to taste, and even had sample Dupee and Jory soil so we could see the difference. I didn't write tasting notes on these, but I think generally we preferred the Pinot grown in the Jory soil.
It was a great educational experience and a lot of fun to try these two wines.
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