Fine wine
Local wineries receive acclaim for their pinot gris and pinot noir selections
By Jennifer Sudick
Freelance Editor
Jim Bemau started making wine
nearly 10 years before he could
drink it.
Inspired by the wine his father al
lowed him to taste, the Willamette
Valley Vineyards founder and his
brother experimented with wine pro
duction in his home near Roseburg.
"Some of my bottles are still in the
crawl space in the house we lived in,"
Bemau said.
The University graduate and former
ASUO president owns one of about
450 Oregon vineyards, a market that
has grown considerably in the past sev
eral decades, according to Sundance
I
Wine Cellars manager Steve Baker.
"It's been a buyer's market for sure,
which is great for the consumer," Bak
er said. "Oregon has had five superb
vintages in a row."
Baker said a recent grape glut due to
a mid-'90s spike in the number of
Oregon vineyards has helped create
bargains on some of Oregon's best
wines, with many pinot noir and
pinot gris bottles available for $15
$20. Recently, these wines have
gained national recognition for their
quality and price.
"Before this recent phenomenon, it
was tough to find a really good pinot
noir in that price," he said. 'That qual
ity of wine has never been better."
Oregon's long cool growing season
— stretching from spring until early
fall — makes an ideal climate for
pinot noir and pinot gris, Baker said.
Unlike the warmer climate necessary
for growing chardonnay, merlot and
zinfandel — grown mostly in the
famed wine-producing region of
Napa Valley, Calif., — pinot noir and
pinot gris require moderate-to-cool
weather and a slow riping process.
"You really get superior flavor de
velopment and complexity when it is
snuggling to get ripe," Baker said.
Bernau said the thin-skinned
grape commonly grown in Oregon is
fragile and excels only in narrow
weather requirements. Since the
weather in Oregon stays cooler than
in California by at least a month, the
grapes mature more slowly, trapping
Willamette Valley Vineyards covers atout 260 acres in Turner, Ore., near Interstate 5,
nuances in flavor and aroma.
"Our pinot noir are much more so
phisticated and balanced in my opin
ion," Bernau said. "California wines
you sit and drink like you would a
Pepsi. Hey, I'm an Oregonian. I'm bi
ased. A lot of Californians would dis
agree with me."
Miles Johnson, director of market
ing for King Estate Vineyard, an 810
acre winery located about 20 miles
southwest of downtown Eugene,
said Oregon's wet growing
conditions are completely different
than the southern climate.
"Right on the 45th parallel area
here in Oregon we get wet winters,
with water tables built up naturally by
mother nature," Baker said.
Oregon wine: Then and now
Bemau, whose winery is located just
south of the 45th parallel in Turner,
Ore., attributed the growth of the Ore
gon wine industry to Californian
Turn to WINE, page 18
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