I first stumbled across the sub-AVAs of the Willamette Valley in 2005. The real reason I went to the Willamette is to collect soil from all of its sub-AVAs. McMinnville, Eola-Amity, Yamhill-Carlton, Dundee Hills, Chelahem Mountains, and Ribbon Ridge—I think that’s all of them and I collected soil from them all—It took a couple days, wondering aimlessly from winery to winery.
At SugarToad, I have two mason jars full of terrior I am quite fond off to represent the Pinots from the 2008 vintage . The first is from the Red Hills of Dundee. The J. Christopher “Dundee Hills Cuvee” 2008 represents the volcanic red jory quite well. Dark Cherries with a barnyard to cedar quality is quite prevalent in the wine. In conversations with the winemaker Jay Somners, I learned how Pacific Northwest Salmon perhaps is not the best pairing—or maybe overdone—and the salmon brings out a metallic quality in the wine. A better fish pairing might be Alaskan halibut or diver sea scallops with a secondary pork element with pinot from Dundee.
The other mason jar consists of a more loamy soil from the Chelahem Mountains from the Bergstrom Winery***. Though the Bergstrom “Cumberland Reserve” Pinot Noir 2008 comes from several vineyard sites, one can definitely smell and taste the juicy black cherry to cola notes in the Missoula Flood influenced soils. (That childhood trip to Yellowstone is all making sense now.) After tasting this alongside some grilled blackmouth salmon, I found this to be a better salmon pairing then the pinots from Dundee.
***For sake of argument of the Armitage Crew, Bergstrom is Ubaldo's favorite Pinot of 2006-7.
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