Spains' Favorite Oregon Pinot; Lenne Estates

I'm always on the lookout for new wines, new wineries, and varietals I've not tried. When one of my most trusted Willamette Valley sources, Jenny gave me the word, I had to go check out Lenne Estates.

Lenne Estates is located along 240 on the way to Yamhill from Newberg. It may not be that well known, but its vineyards lie among a number of the more revered Willamette Valley wineries such as Penner Ash, Willakenzie and Shea. The Lenne site is incredibly steep, and it provided a visual treat as we drove up the hill to the tasting room.

Lenne Estates is owned and operated by Steve Lutz and the winery is named after his father-in-law, Lenny. The label is a striking charcoal rendering of an image of Lenny in his younger days. Steve loves the sketch of Lenny but is a little less certain of the labeling that has been chosen for his second label Lenez, the sketch of a nose in a similar style to that original drawing. Its started to grow on him a bit though and he admits that he may be coming around.


Steve got his start in the wine business in the early 80s in Napa Valley, working harvests and tasting rooms and learning about the wine business as well as the business of wine. He began tinkering with Pinot Noir in 1984 making wine in Carneros. When Steve first came to Oregon he was working with Anne Amie to help develop their brand. The opportunity arose to acquire some acreage in the Willamette Valley and Steve jumped all over it.

Steve planted the Lenne estate vineyards in 2001 with some help from the winemaker from Anne Amie. Given its steep angle and his desire to dry farm the site, Lenne lost a lot of vines those first few years - 35% in the first year.

In 2005 Lenne Estates started selling fruit to Owen Roe and Steve took his winemaking to their location. Steve credits Owen Roe’s David O'Reilly for his aid in getting the results and the wine that Lenne Estates wants to make. In addition to lending production space and winemaking advice, Owen Roe also does a vineyard designate Pinot Noir with Lenne Estates fruit and uses it in their acclaimed Kilroy wine as well.

Steve makes a few Pinots, and also promotes some of the Owen Roe wines in his establishment. His 2008 Jill's 115 was our favorite, a Pinot made from the 115 clone. This is a very nicely balanced Pinot with great structure. Though it hadn't been released, Steve let us pick up a bottle with a promise not to open it for some time to come. Steve sells most of his wine, a full 90%, through his Rootstocks club. His most far-ranging sale has been to a company in Spain. This Spanish restaurant company buys 50 cases of Steve's wine for some of their exclusive eateries, and they shared with him that it's the favorite wine of the Prime Minister's wife.

Even if you're not a head of state I recommend checking out Lenne Estates. Steve is an interesting character, the views are unforgettable and you'll be tasting some Oregon Pinot that is in exclusive company.

Who Needs Golf: Solena Estate; Gran Cru Estates

On our way down to McMinnville for the IPNC Passport to Pinot we were invited to swing by and check out Solena Estates brand new Grand Cru Estates facility outside of Yamhill. The Grand Cru Estates facility, which opened last November, sits right off 240 and is a sight to behold as you pull up the gravel driveway. Lynnette showed us around the facility and we tried to stay incognito so as to not disturb some IPNC guests there for a blending seminar and lunch.

Grand Cru Estates, in Lynnette’s words, is "a sort of country club, but instead of golf, the focus is wine." This is perhaps the most genius thing I've heard in a while, and let me explain. Wine is the celebration of life, of living, in both a literal sense and also in a kind of olde timey Bacchanalian sense assuming that by "old timey" you mean Greek mythology. Which is exactly what I'm talking about. Further it is my personal opinion that golf is the opposite of the celebration of life, it's rather the celebration of aging, an acceptance of the regrettable reality that no other athletic endeavors are available to my frail frame anymore. "I should look into this golf thing."

Grand Cru members make their own wine with the fruit from the Solena Estate vineyards. Members can make a 1/4, 1/2 or full barrels of wine, and they really get to do everything from blending to racking. There are currently 30 or 40 members of the club, and members get access to the entire facility for one full day each calendar year, a private club room with lockers for wine, and a ton of other cool benefits.

The Gran Cru facility is also the production facility for Solena Estates, where they’re making wines with a focus on Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and a lot of warm weather varietals grown predominantly in Southern Oregon. Some of the fruit, however, is sourced from Washington, specifically the acclaimed Klipsun Vineyard. I have to chuckle at the "warm weather" distinction because it was 96 degrees in the Willamette Valley on the day of our visit.



In addition to the tour and rundown of the Gran Cru club we also got to taste through the wines being made by Solena Estates. They make a variety of excellent single vineyard Pinot Noirs as well as a Cuvee and Pinot Gris. The 09 Pinot Gris is sourced from 3 different vineyards including one from Southern Oregon. This was the first of two such Gris we tasted on our trip that was blended this way (Panther Creek also does one). I think it's the way to go for Oregon. While it may not be a "proper" AVA wine, the result is undeniably delicious. The strength of the Willamette AVA grapes balance extremely well with the acidity present in the Southern Oregon inclusion to really round out the wine.

Enough messing about, onto Pinot Noir. Solena Estate makes a couple different single vineyard Pinots, as well as a Cuvee. All of their Pinots are quite nice but for the sake of time I have to focus in on the Domaine Danielle Laurent Pinot Noir ($45). I strongly suggest you spend some time with this wine. First off, we had the 2007. The mystery continues for me about how people who supposedly know anything about wine could have poo-pooed this vintage for Oregon Pinot Noir. This wine is beautiful. I picked up some burnt gun powder on the nose. Saying this to Gwynne and Lynnette elicited a skeptical reaction and Gwynne asked me when I had last handled a musket. (We went on to discuss a curious scene we had witnessed in Bellingham where four lonely looking Civil War reenactors had assembled on a side street to recreate the not-so-famed Battle of Bellingham).

Back to the wine. Interestingly enough I just checked out the tasting notes from the winemaker. Lo and behold: "aromatics of flint." Flint, as those reenactors will tell you, is what you use to ignite the gun powder. I win. The wines from this estate vineyard, which was a wedding gift from the owners, Danielle & Laurent, to each other, is planted with several different Pinot clones. The wine is handled with kid gloves, and in small lots. Punchdowns are done in rotary barrels and all fermentation is done in small batches.

The result is another more than capable spokesman for the 2007 vintage out of Willamette Valley. We found ourselves compelled to purchase a bottle to take home. If you’re in the Valley, pay a visit to this beautiful facility. If you live out that way, hang up the golf clubs and start making wine instead. It's way more fun.

(My disdain for golf comes from being a caddy at a country club for three years through high school & college. This opinion of this so-called sport is in no way shared by the good folks at Solena Estate.)