A dozen Oregon Pinot Noirs

No area of the New World identifies so closely with Pinot Noir than Oregon, particularly the Willamette Valley.

Since the early 1970s, Oregon has been famous for the red grape of Burgundy, France. David Lett, fondly remembered as Oregon’s “Papa Pinot,” moved to Oregon in 1966 and bought property. His Eyrie Vineyards 1975 South Block Pinot Noir stunned experts in international judgings in 1979 – not unlike the famous Judgment of Paris tasting that catapulted California to fame three years earlier.

The result of Eyrie Vineyards’ success prompted high interest in Oregon Pinot Noir, and within a decade, famed Burgundy producer Robert Drouhin bought property in the Dundee Hills and launched Domaine Drouhin Oregon

Here we present a dozen Oregon Pinot Noirs we’ve tasted in the past couple of months, 11 of which are from the Willamette Valley.