The Eyrie Vineyards is an American winery in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

that consists of in five different vineyards in the

Dundee Hills AVA The Dundee Hills AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Yamhill County, Oregon. It is entirely contained within the Willamette Valley AVA, and is approximately southwest of Portland, near the towns of Dundee and Dayton. The area ...

of the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

. In 1965, against the advice of his viticultural professors at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

David Lett David Lett (1939 – October 9, 2008) was the founder and winemaker for The Eyrie Vineyards in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was a pioneer in the Oregon wine industry. Lett grew up on a farm in Holladay, Utah earned a degree in philosophy and pre ...

moved to Oregon to plant Pinot noir in the Willamette Valley. David and Diana Lett produced the first Pinot noir in the Willamette Valley, and the first

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

in the United States. Their first vintage in 1970. The 1975 Eyrie Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir placed in top ten among Pinot noirs in blind tasting at the

Wine Olympics A Wine Olympics was organized by the French food and wine magazine ''Gault-Millau'' in 1979. A total of 330 wines from 33 countries were evaluated by 62 experts from ten nationalities. The 1976 contestant Trefethen Vineyards Chardonnay from Na ...

in 1979. Burgundy winemaker Robert Drouhin organized a re-match at

Maison Joseph Drouhin Maison Joseph Drouhin is a French wine producer based in Burgundy that was founded in 1880. The estate owns vineyards in Chablis, the Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune and Côte Chalonnaise, as well as in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Drouhin is ...

in France. The 1975 Eyrie Vineyards Reserve came in second, losing to Drouhin's 1959 Chambolle-Musigny by only two-tenths of a point. Drouhin later purchased land in Oregon and built Domaine Drouhin Oregon. Over the years, David Lett (known locally as "Papa Pinot") maintained a light-handed style of Pinot noir that did not follow the trend toward greater flavor, tannin, and color extraction, believing color not to be an indicator of quality in Pinot noir. This put him at odds with some of the wine critics. David Lett died on October 9, 2008. David and Diana's son Jason Lett is now president and winemaker for the winery. The Eyrie Vineyards estate vineyards are part of the sub- American Viticultural Area (AVA) of

Willamette Valley AVA The Willamette Valley AVA ( ) is an American Viticultural Area which lies in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The AVA is the wine growing region which encompasses the drainage basin of the Willamette River. It stretches from the Columbia Rive ...

known as the Dundee Hills. The winery itself is in McMinnville, which annually hosts the International Pinot Noir Celebration on the last weekend in July on the campus of

Linfield College Linfield University is a private university with campuses in McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participates in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Linfield reported a combined 1,755 students after the fal ...

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyrie Vineyards, The Buildings and structures in Yamhill County, Oregon Wineries in Oregon Willamette Valley 1965 establishments in Oregon American companies established in 1965 Food and drink companies established in 1965

See also

References

External links