Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
Yamhill Valley Vineyards is dedicated to producing distinctive wines from estate grown grapes in the emerging Oregon style reminiscent of the finest Burgundian and Alsatian wines. The heart of our winemaking is dedicated to Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris wines. With the planting of Pinot Blanc in the spring of 1994 we look forward to being a "three-Pinot family." We are a young vineyard (our first vintage was 1983) and winery in a new winegrowing region, dedicated to the production of cool-climate varieties. While keenly aware of traditional methods used in the production of our wines we are committed to exploring new technologies, innovative techniques and modern practices. We are dogged in our pursuit of a character that is distinctively Oregon and distinctively Yamhill Valley. We are one of the first wineries in America to use synthetic closures and the first to use plastic corks exclusively. We are experimenting with Oregon oak in the barrel aging of our wines. Our goal is to produce the very finest wines that our site and skills allow.
Stretching southwest from the city of McMinnville, the AVA with the same name covers about 40,000 acres across 20 miles until it meets the Van Duzer Corridor. This corridor is the only break in the Coast Range whose gap allows the cool Pacific Ocean air to flow eastward into the Willamette Valley.
The Pacific's moderating winds hit McMinnville’s south and southeast facing slopes where cool-climate varieties—namely Pinot noir and Pinot blanc thrive on ridges at between 200 to 1,000 feet in elevation.
Soils here are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loam and silt, with alluvial formations; McMinnville receives less rainfall than its neighbors to the east because it is situated in the rain shadow of the Coast Range.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”