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Finally!  My chance to participate in the Oregon Pinot Camp has arrived.  “Camp?” my friends’ incredulous faces stared back at me.  “Your work is taking you to Oregon to drink wine for four days?”  Well… when you put it like that… I guess I have to say, “Yes!”

Every year, 50 of Oregon’s wineries or wine companies come together and invite over 250 hospitality and wine professionals to explore and experience the Oregon wine country.  In the last 30 years, Oregon’s Pinot Noirs have gone from being unknown entities to international “celebrities,” receiving recognition and acclaim from wine industry professionals worldwide.  Wine lovers who had previously stocked only Burgundies in their wine cellars have now started stocking Pinots produced from the wine grapes grown in Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills and Yamhill County.

The Oregon Pinot Camp

I and the other wine professionals participated in six workshops.  We learned about the history of Oregon wine making and explored Oregon wines’ vintages and wine styles.  We also discussed and tasted Oregon’s white wines.  Winemakers took us to their vineyards to discuss terroir.  You know what?  There’s nothing like squeezing dirt clods (oops, excuse my indelicate faux pas… should I say soil samples instead?) if you want to understand the difference between sedimentary and volcanic-based earth.

The star of the show?  The Pinot Noir, bien sûr (of course) – that persistently persnickety grape that perpetually puzzles and perplexes even the most devoted winemaker.  In order to make the wonderfully elegant and silky wine that we call Pinot, vine growers dedicate their lives to combating this thin-skinned grape’s proneness to rot.  They have to stay up at all hours of the night, zipping through their plots, tasting, chewing, spitting, and tasting again and again – until the grapes finally “whisper” to their caretakers that full ripeness has been achieved and the right moment to begin harvest has arrived.

The Pinot wine tasting focused on the 2006 vintage, a year that pleased many winemakers and yielded high-quality grapes.  It is clear that Oregon winemakers strive to produce wines that are true to Pinot’s varietal characteristics.  Although the wines at the wine tasting were very young, they displayed a variety of aromas and flavors that ranged from bright, fresh, red berries to riper, dark blackberries and plum.  The various uses of oak were apparent, and the flavors ranged from the more subtle (e.g. elegant Pinots from the Domain Drouhin winemaker) to fuller-bodied, spicier versions that expressed more cedar, vanilla and tobacco (e.g. Pinots from the Panther Creek and Witness Tree vineyards).

As a group, Oregon Pinots exhibit a mouthwatering acidity, firm tannins, fruit complexity, and a lengthy finish – all of which are important elements of quality and agreeability.

The Pinot Gris was also featured, and this grape reigned supreme among the whites.  The Pinot Gris wines we sampled were deliciously crisp, clean and refreshing.  They can accompany many a dish.  Gee, I suddenly have this craving for seared scallops and asparagus – but, I digress.

The winemakers from Oregon are also being creative and are experimenting with other varietals such as Chardonnay.  A wonderfully refreshing example is Soter/Argyles’s sparkling blanc de blancs.  The Ponzi Winery makes a lovely Arneis; others are dabbling with more aromatic varietals such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer.

As we floated over the vineyards of Oregon in our hot air balloon (mais oui!) one morning, I thought about the Oregon winemakers.  Although they have initially looked to Burgundy for inspiration, they remained true to their goal of discovering their own style and unique expression of terroir.  They are succeeding quite well in this department, too.  In fact, they have started attracting the French.  French owned Willakenzie Winery had fun in mind when it produced Plaisir à Trois, a unique blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Gamay Noir.

The Oregon wine country deserves our praise, indeed.  It’s a place worth watching, especially for those people who have a predisposition for particular Pinots.

Cheers!