Jeroboams Education is a new series on our blog providing you with the lowdown on the most iconic wine producing regions of the world. Led by our super buying team, Peter Mitchell MW and Maggie MacPherson will introduce you to the key facts and a little history of all the regions you recognise but perhaps don’t know too well. To help really further your education, why not drink along?

Introduction

America’s 33rd state, Oregon, was founded in 1859, and is best known for its wild west past and its quirky present-day traditions. It is also home to many a natural phenomenon including the world’s largest living organism. What is it you ask? A Mushroom of course! Spanning approximately 2.4 miles in Oregon’s Blue Mountains, the enormous honey fungus is believed to be somewhere between 1900 and 8650 years old! It is also home to the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland… I did tell you it was famous for its quirkiness, didn’t I? Alongside its quirkiness Oregon is known for its natural beauty, and as such residents are fanatical about retaining it and as such sustainability and care of the land is high up on oregonites agenda. Portland, Oregon’s capital city, is reported to have the most bicyclists per capita of any city in the US, which shows their dedication given how un-bike- friendly the city is. Portland is the epicentre of the Oregon way of life focusing on local produce whether it be the wine, clothes, beers and food. The latter being particularly important for the famous food truck scene. In fact, there are around 475 food carts open at any given time in Portland! It is this eclectic mix of premium food served in casual locations that foster Oregon’s sense of community and experimentation. This feeds into the wine community and can be seen in Portland’s thriving urban wineries, where you’ll find multiple young winemakers making small their own small batch wines all sharing the same space, and at the infamous Pinot Camp. Pinot Camp is a cork dork’s mecca, a 3-day long festival celebrating all things Pinot Noir. The wineries and winemakers in Willamette spend a year planning how best they can promote Willamette Valley as a whole, putting together seminars, experimental wines, and of course lots and lots of Pinot Noir and top food.

History

What is wonderful about the history of winemaking in Oregon, is that many of the original ‘pioneers’ are recognisable names still producing top wines to this day. We’ll start the Oregon history in 1933 post prohibition with John Wood and Ron Honeyman of Salem receiving a bonded winery status shortly after Prohibition ended creating Honeywood Winery that is still going strong today and is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating winery. However, it wasn’t until Richard Sommer, of Hillcrest Vineyard, planted Oregon’s first vinifera grapes in Umpqua Valley in 1961 that ushered in the modern era of Oregon winemaking. The first plantings of Pinot Noir in Willamette Valley were made in 1965 by the legendary David Lett. Lett is often attributed as one of the forefathers of the Willamette valley and with good reason. David and his wife Diana actually spent their honeymoon planting vines at The Eyrie Vineyards in Dundee Hills creating the epicentre of the Oregon wine industry. Furthermore, it was Lett who first championed Burgundian varieties and that they may be better suited to Oregon cool climate over California. Turns out he wasn’t the only UC Davis grad who thought this, with Dick Erath rolling into Willamette in 1968 to follow in Letts footsteps. Over the next couple of years many more settled in Oregon to produce wine, and in 1973 David Lett and David Adelsheim established the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development to create maps designating the prime vineyard zones of the northern Willamette Valley, then lobbies to protect this land. Not content with just planting any Pinot Noir, David Adelsheim travelled to Burgundy and realised that the clones used in Burgundy performed better in cooler climates than the “Davis” clones from California they were currently using in Oregon. This kicked off his 10-year slog to import “Dijon” clones from Burgundy finally having them approved in 1984. Another recognisable name in Oregon’s history is Scott Henry. Scott Henry owned the Henry Estate Vineyard in Umpqua Valley, and in 1982 was alarmed at the declining quality of his fruit. He took it upon himself to design a unique four-pronged trellising system that exposed the grape bunches to maximum sunlight – the “Scott Henry Trellis System” was established. Oregon, like California, was firmly placed on the international podium by a blind tasting held in New York in 1985. They tasted Oregon Pinot Noir against Burgundies costing twice as much and the top 3 chosen were from Oregon. Following on from this, Burgundy-born Véronique Drouhin travelled to Oregon in 1988 to work the vintage in Willamette Valley and created the Domaine Drouhin Oregon label further pushing Oregon into the international spotlight. Unfortunately, just as Oregon was blossoming the dreaded vine-root louse, phylloxera hit the Willamette Valley in 1990 forcing vineyard owners to rip out vines and replant on grafted phylloxera-resistant rootstock. However, as is often the case, adversity forces creativity and in 1999 Bill Holloran launched the “garagiste” movement in Oregon when he converted his horse barn into a winery, blurring the lines between suburban and rural. It was actually one of these suburban wineries – Cooper Mountain Vineyards – which became the first Oregon winery to achieve Demeter-Certified Biodynamic status. Ten years later and continuing focus on sustainable practices leads the Oregon Environmental Council to kick off the Carbon Neutral Challenge, the first wine-industry carbon-reduction program in the United States. Nowadays Oregon is home to more than 790 wineries and its vineyards account for 52% of total US Demeter Biodynamic certified vineyards.