The Golden Age of Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has entered a golden age.

Akin to Napa before Robert Parker, rock before disco, Shelby before Mustang, and Austin when it was weird, it will never be cooler than it is right now. Wines stand up to great Burgundies for a fraction of the price. The restaurant scene is a mecca of farm-to-table magic. Chains have yet to swallow the singularly local. The ambiance is verdant and unpretentious, while the people are inviting and passionately dedicated to their craft. This is the moment to explore this extraordinary pocket of the world.

Willamette Valley

For a conveniently located McMinnville base camp, I love the team behind Atticus Hotel and Third Street Flats. Atticus combines thoughtfully curated luxury with modern convenience and historic charm. Third Street Flats offers full-service or self-serve upscale flats inside the swanky historic district. If making your perch in the Dundee Hills, Black Walnut Inn offers a sumptuously appointed villa nestled 1000 feet above the valley floor with vineyard views from the balcony of each room.

Culinary magic awaits you as Willamette is Ground Zero for the farm-to-fork movement. Deep relationships with farms and seasonal produce are integral to the culinary scene here. One of my all-time favorites, Joel Palmer House, is tucked inside a historic home in Dayton and is helmed by a fungi-foraging chef who incorporates his finds across a tasting menu. It’s umami-laden alchemy that’s simply unforgettable. Before dinner, visit Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum and Howard Hughes’ Hercules “Sprouse Goose,” the gargantuan, wooden flying boat built for WWII.

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

A James Beard semi-finalist two years running, Okta is nestled in McMinnville’s 100-year-old hardware store and delivers farm-to-table haute cuisine from their farm, in-house larder, and local purveyors. The ideal lunch spot amidst marathon wine tasting is Dayton’s Loam, which delivers elevated seasonal brunch and lunch. Chef Kari Kihara brilliantly composes local bounty with global panache in McMinnville’s Hayward. Newberg’s Victorian charmer, The Painted Lady, delivers a destination-worthy Nouvelle French spin on New American cuisine, one of the most captivating gastronomic experiences in the Pacific Northwest.

Now, on to the star of the show. My favorite US wine region is Willamette Valley, without question! The complex geology, climate, and dedicated winemakers deliver some of the most astonishing price-to-quality in the world. At the end of the last ice age, the Missoula Floods swept up the sediment of an ancient seabed with volcanic lava and unleashed geologic magic onto the Willamette Valley, resulting in a dizzying array of soil types that make this unique pocket of vineyards the most terroir-driven site on our shores. With a pitch-perfect climate akin to France’s Burgundy, Willamette can capture the ethereal grace of pinot noir and chardonnay for a remarkable price.

And it all started with one man.

Ron Zimmerman David Lett Eyrie Vineyards 1975 SE Block Pinot Noir July 2005

A true American pioneer, David Lett staked his claim to Willamette in 1965, armed with a few Burgundian clones and an unlikely dream. David’s son continues to craft world-class wine at the helm of The Eyrie Vineyards. Their tasting room is a mandatory destination where verticals showcase the aging potential of their wines and always represent the region at its apex.

White Rose Estate is a boutique Dundee Hills producer that is not commercially distributed and is rarely seen outside Willamette. Still, the terroir-driven expression, elegance, and poise of their pinot noir captures the feminine grace of a great Chambolle-Musigny for a third of their Burgundian equivalent. Soter Vineyards faithfully represent Yamhill-Carlton, Eola Amity Hills, and Ribbon Ridge appellations. With biodynamically farmed fruit, their wines are teeming with life and energy in the glass, and each reveals the distinct character of geologically unique terroir from their breathtaking hilltop estate.

Walter Scott came to my attention through Master Sommelier Brian McClintic’s wine club, which focuses on boutique producers crafting natural wines. Scott is rooted in the Eola Amity Hills, and his terroir-driven wines reveal a heavenly sense of place and stunning expressions of pinot noir and chardonnay. One of the hottest bespoke producers in Willamette, Evening Land is helmed by Indian American Master Sommelier Rajat Parr and celebrated winemaker Sashi Moorman, who craft wine from the historic Seven Springs Vineyard in Eola Amity Hills. Biodynamically dry-farmed and aptly crafted with non-interventionist winemaking, their wines rival some of the finest in Burgundy. Skeptical? Give Jason Wise’s documentary Somm 3 a whirl to witness three of the world’s most sensitive palates taste Parr’s wines blind.

Wherever your journey takes you, Willamette is destined to charm, inspire, and invigorate. Bon journée!

The author