A Trip to the Northern Willamette Valley, Oregon

One of my strongest desires is to learn wines from the "root" to the glass.  Recently I had the opportunity to head to the Willamette Valley to do just that: walk the vineyards, browse the wineries and sample the tasting rooms.

The Willamette Valley is home to some of my favorite Oregon winemakers.  They are known for their earthy Pinots Noirs, and seeing the land on which they grow and the environment they grow within gives you deeper appreciation for that mysterious term: terrior.

This is a view of the Torii Mor vineyard in the Dundee Hills appelation.  At the time of this tour, in early April, many of the vineyards are in the spring pruning phase.  Many of the local vineyards are trimming their vines low using the Guyot Training System (Single Guyot Training pictured above).

To give you an idea of how moist the Northern Willamette valley is, this is a picture of the woods atop the lichen and moss rich hills.  This is the image that comes to mind when I'm picking up those "forest floor" or "organic earth" notes that I love in a deep, complex Pinot Noir.  It makes sense that some of the ambient yeast from the appellation find their way into the winemaking process, leaving their "I was here" mark.

The Torii Mor tasting room Pinot Noir lineup: from left to right they have their Black Label, Deux Verres, Chehalem Mountains Select and the Temperance Hill Vineyard productions.  All of their wines were incredible, displaying unique personalities.  Yet, the Deux Verres was one of my favorites as the signature "Burgundian" style wine from Jacques Tardy, a fifth generation Burgundian winemaker (2008 Deux Verres Info).

Here is a view of the Double Guyot trained vines from the Lange Estate Vineyard in the foreground and a view down into the Willamette Valley in the background.  There is a fairly significant elevation change between the lower parts of the valley and the top of some of the rolling hills, in this case, the Dundee Hills.

Here is another view of the Lange Estate Vineyard.  You can see that the vines are trained using the Double Guyot System (for more on vine training techniques, check out the Vino Diary).

Even more of that "terrior" brain food.  Do you get a nutty, woody earth note on your Dundee Hills pinot?  That could be an excellent call considering this stump (and many more like it) are around and within the vineyards of the Willamette, like the Knudsen Vineyard, growing grapes for the Argyle Winery.

What wine trip is complete without some locally produced and exquisitely prepared food?  This is the pulled-to-order, housemade mozzarella at the Laurelhurst Market Restaurant.

And their charcuterie plate...  The food was incredible and I am very impressed that since my visit, only a week ago, they have changed much of the menu to represent the seasonal ingredients arriving at the "market."

Stay tuned for the tasting notes on the Torii Mor "Deux Verres" Pinot Noir!  Also, I had a recent conversation with a friend about kimchi that reenergized me, so I will get rolling on episode two of "Kimchi (An Ecosystem in a Jar of My Own Creation)."