Layne’s Wine Gig Presents
OREGON!!!
By Layne V. Witherell
I recently participated in one of the all-time greatest events of my entire life. “WHAT!” you say? Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon has created the Oregon Wine History Archive. Director Rich Schmidt interviewed for posterity everyone from the ten pioneer families who planted the first grapes and made wine fifty years ago to the newbie wine writer fresh off the bus from Chicago – and all in-between.
Why me? My interview took place on April 16th via Zoom. As a young, just out of college person, I settled in Oregon in 1977 and was fortunate not only to meet the founders but to sell those early wines, too. These interviews are remarkable documents that take you through the great moments, pioneering moments and the tough ones as well. These are the stories of real people.
Elk Cove Vineyards Willamette Valley Estate Pinot Blanc, 2022, $15.99 bottle

Pinot Blanc is a white, quiet, unoaked Alsatian variety. It has light citrus, medium acidity, and is the ideal wine with Asian dishes. “A halfway house between refreshment and opulence,” according to wine writer Jancis Robinson.
While enjoying this wine you need to pull up the Pat and Joe Campbell interview of October 9th, 2020. Want to see a modern pioneer family at work? I knew them as their distributor in 1982, when Joe was an ER doctor and Pat was planting their vineyards. It is as astonishing as a back-to-the-land wine story can get.
If you are thinking of starting a winery, it helps to have the salary of an ER doc, the farming skills of your partner, a good accountant (just call around), and a kid who just might take over in the by and by.
Wine never tastes better than when hearing a great story.
Planet Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, 2022, $19.99 bottle

Silky smooth with a velvet cloak. This is all elegance and fruit in abundance. A Pinot Noir dance of cherries and strawberries.
Very few winemakers arrive in Oregon as famous beings; some actually have a resume, a few have a great one. Tony Soter arrived from California fully formed and full blown, having both worked with and consulted with the greats. One of the prerequisites for genius is a guiding path in the study of something else – like his degree in philosophy. This was followed by a job of “dragging hoses” (aka, cellar work) for the man in Napa who changed the world of wine – Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars of the Judgment of Paris Tasting fame (when California wine whipped the French in 1976).
Ironically, after working with the Cabernet greats in the Napa Valley, his fame came from the creation of his Pinot Noir Etude (“study” in classical music). In a land not famous for that grape, he decided that it was time to head north to the rapidly-becoming-famous Willamette Valley, after having earned his chops in the cooler climbs of the Carneros region between Napa and Sonoma.
His consulting clients are legendary: Spottswood, Araujo, Dalla Valla, Viader, Shafer, and last but not least, Niebaum-Coppola. Just makes your head spin.
There is a marvelous interview in the book “New Classic Winemaker of California” where he rails against high alcohol in wine “winning beauty contest sweepstakes… they’re undrinkable at the dinner table.” The cooler climate of the Willamette Valley has proven to be exceptional for ripening and that all important balance. For him, 13.4% alcohol is the magic number.
Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, 2023, $25.00 bottle.

A meaty Pinot Noir with just enough tannin to snuggle up alongside that roast duck for flavor. There are cherries, a bit of game bird, and notes (honestly, I hate the tasting term notes!) of cranberry. Oh, so young… Give it a few more years of bottle age.
It isn’t often that I take a deep dive into Layne’s Archive, but here goes: “Ken Wright’s Leap of Faith Produces Superior Wines,” June 23, 1999, Richmond Times Dispatch. Layne Witherell Uncorked was my weekly wine column in Richmond, Virginia. It was Ken’s first visit and intro with his distributor, Roanoke Beverage, combined with a picnic attended by restaurant and wine store people in the distributors’ back yard. What a splash!
The amazing thing, other than the real dealness of his Willamette Pinot noir, is that the price per bottle hasn’t changed since 1999. Of course, the single vineyard bottlings like Shea and McCrone have more than doubled, but such is fame.
The “leap of faith” part of my old article refers to a practice developed in the Northwest of paying your growers up front for the fruit based on the size of your vineyard instead of by the ton – where every twig and rock winds up in the gondola. This is occasionally referred to as “sharecropping” which freaks out the grape uninitiated. No, it’s not that. It has wound up being a system that both rewards the grower as well as the winery and you.
The beauty of these wines is that they are available locally and are reasonably priced for what you are paying for.
Thrills & Chills
Whatever you do, look up and browse through the Oregon Wine History Archive. My interview should be up in several weeks. It is one hour plus of thrills and chills. If you are thinking about starting a winery, the most realistic nitty gritty piece is my buddy Myron Redford, October 2007.
Bourgogne Cote Chalonnaise, 1994. Gifted by a friend for my birthday, priceless. (Probably cost $30.00 in the day.)

Like a wild foraged mushroom with “potentially haunting essences of place.” Put a dozen or two dozen years of bottle age on that Pinot Noir and this is the outcome – if the cork holds up. This one did. That velvety cherry softness is gone and replaced with herbs, a hint of blackberry, and truffle. And the mushroom… Oh, the mushroom.
Bourgogne is where it all started. The holy grail of Pinot Noir. This is why they came to the Willamette Valley from California in the 1960’s and 1970’s, to try and replicate that little wonderland in France.
Scratch any Oregon Pinot Noir grower or winemaker and you will discover the memory of that long lost bottle of Bourgogne they had. For Pat and Joe Campbell, it was that bottle of Le Musigny 1969 they had in that French restaurant in San Francisco back in the day. For some of us, it is worth staking livelihood, fame, and fortune to try your hand at that accomplishment. Welcome to Oregon!!!