The Auswine Forum

Between Christmas and new year I spend a few nights with some friends in the Willamette Valley, around 1 hour outside of Portland Oregon. The place is renowned for its Pinot Noir and on the whole, is not absurdly priced nor overrun with tourist buses (yet) like the Californian regions.

I did not take any tasting notes or photos, this was purely for fun and relaxation, however there are a few wineries of note that might be worth visiting if you are in the area.

Goodfellow Family Cellars
Boutique producer without a cellar door, operating out of a warehouse on the fringes of Newberg. If you want to visit, email or call ahead to arrange a time. Works with a combination of own vineyards and grapes purchased from select growers in the region.

The tasting was held among the barrels which have a charming naming convention in chalk - each grape or vineyard has a theme every year, such as mountains (the first barrel I saw was labelled Etna, a great sign), banjo players or cult horror movies.

Stylistically the wines are very refined with no new oak treatment. The winemaker says he makes a style that appeals to drinkers of Nebbiolo - pretty florals, silky yet present tannin, let the vineyard character show through.

I cannot recommend these wines enough, the top single vineyard bottlings coming in around $70. If there are any Australian importers reading, I would strongly and selfishly recommend picking these up in your portfolio.

White Rose
Beautiful spot on top of the hill, they don't mess around with whites or lesser varietals, making only Pinot Noir. On this visit there were 3 Pinots on tasting, all of which were very elegant and balanced. The closest local analogy would be Mac Forbes.

Worth mentioning is the coffee which comes with your $15 tasting - one of the finest espresso shots I have ever tasted.

The wines range from $70 to around $110, which is quite a bump from our last visit 4 years ago. Will go back again next time.

Alexana Winery
Recommended by the staff at Winderlea. My alarm bells should have been going off when we pulled into the parking lot and remembered the building but not the wines. All Pinots were well made big reds with limited varietal character which could have come from anywhere in the world. The GSM they had from a sister winery in Mendoza was remarkably similar.

$20/pp tasting, avoid.

What did you think of the Chardonnay when you were there?

They really talk about their Pinot and some of it is pretty good..but I think their Chardonnay is even better...

Polymer wrote:What did you think of the Chardonnay when you were there?

They really talk about their Pinot and some of it is pretty good..but I think their Chardonnay is even better...

Good point, Goodfellow had two different single vineyard chards that were somewhat akin to something you might fight from the Yarra, with more nuanced oak treatment (0% new oak). They had been through malo, but were quite flinty. The final winery coming up next also had a very good restrained Chardonnay with limited oak influence.

Polymer wrote:What did you think of the Chardonnay when you were there?

They really talk about their Pinot and some of it is pretty good..but I think their Chardonnay is even better...

I would second this comment - Chardonnays on the whole seem better and haven't been grown there as long as pinot. Evening Land and Cameron Vineyards a couple of my favs. Also picked a Walter Scott ahead of PYCM in a blind tasting...........

winetastic wrote:
I cannot recommend these wines enough, the top single vineyard bottlings coming in around $70. If there are any Australian importers reading, I would strongly and selfishly recommend picking these up in your portfolio.

Is that $70 USD? Because that works out to $150 give or take landed cost without any markup. Still over $100 landed, if you meant AUD. Hard price point to sell to Aussies?

conformistpete wrote:

winetastic wrote:
I cannot recommend these wines enough, the top single vineyard bottlings coming in around $70. If there are any Australian importers reading, I would strongly and selfishly recommend picking these up in your portfolio.

Is that $70 USD? Because that works out to $150 give or take landed cost without any markup. Still over $100 landed, if you meant AUD. Hard price point to sell to Aussies?

Yes all prices are from memory and in USD.

Keep in mind that top bottling was from a few barrels made of a few rows of a small vineyard... plenty of more affordable wines in their range.

As recent as 2017, there was an article here in Canada about Oregon Pinot infested with phylloxera. It was well known that the earlier plantings of vines in Oregon, especially Willamette, were done on original rootstock, not properly grafted on safe rootstock due to (obviously) costs. As a result, there is going on a program of uprooting and proper replanting. The new pinot obviously is not sick, but a lot younger and lacks complexity. To buy pinot in Oregon means proper check of provenance.

If you're trying the wine either you want to buy it or not...regardless of the age of the vines..
And if you're buying without trying, that's not going to be a determining factor given the wide range of styles in the region...

It is good information to know though...it might lead you to try a producer vs. a different one...