Oregon has been synonymous with world-class Pinot Noir for the past twenty years, with the spotlight brightly focused on the Willamette Valley.  The realization that these wines can rival those of Burgundy has attracted global interest in the region, with serious investment by French and California producers.  But the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon is also on the rise, with some serious winemaking efforts, cultivating an amazing array of wine grape varietals.  This rich diversity has attracted enthusiastic producers and winemakers to the area, as they tinker in Mother Nature’s laboratory.  It’s an exciting time in the Rogue Valley, as vintners discover what works best in their vineyards and craft expressive, award-winning wines.

Irvine & Roberts Vineyard

Weisinger Family Winery

DANCIN Vineyards

Oregon has five wine regions with 18 distinct AVAs, of which the Southern Oregon AVA is one of the largest, stretching upwards from the California state line to the bottom of the Willamette Valley.  Southern Oregon has a diametrically different climate than its northern Willamette Valley cousin, warmer and drier with rugged mountain valleys, a jumble of soils, and diverse microclimates.  Here, a wide variety of wine grape varietals are grown, from warm weather grapes such as Syrah, Tempranillo, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Viognier, on to cooler climate grapes such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling.  The Rogue Valley, one of four wine growing sub-appellations in the greater Southern Oregon AVA, is home to 88 vineyards, 33 wineries, and 4 wine trails.

DANCIN Vineyards

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Rogue Valley for a few days with the LA Wine Writers, and was impressed with the dedication and momentum of the winemaking in the region.  These are the wineries that I had the chance to visit, or do an extensive tasting with at a dinner, quality and thinking outside the box are high!

(L-R) Winemaker Vince Vidrine, owners Doug & Dionne Irvine at Irvine & Roberts Vineyard

Irvine & Roberts specialize in Pinot Noir wines

Irvine & Roberts special wines

Irvine & Roberts Vineyards is an anomaly in the Rogue Valley, a high altitude cool site that is the perfect cradle for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  With no visions of winemaking dancing in their heads, Doug and Dionne Irvine bought this 80 acre ranch in 1997, intending to raise their daughters away from the hustle and bustle of Southern California life.  But on an European trip in the early 2000’s, Doug experienced an epiphany with a Gaja Nebbiolo, and went home to try his hand at winemaking.  One thing led to another, a small experimental vineyard led to today’s expansive enterprise, teaming up with Doug’s sister, Kelly, and husband, Duane Roberts, and Irvine & Roberts has captured lightning in a bottle.  Attracting top talent to help make their dreams come true, with winemaker Vince Vidrine onboard since 2017, several clones of Pinot Noir paint a complex picture of the vineyard, in addition to their Estate Chardonnay and a stunning Pinot Meunier.

Dionne Irvine

Our group spent half a day touring and tasting at the winery and tasting room, and Dionne and her staff prepared a family-style lunch on the patio.  There is so much to tell about their journey, that a profile article will follow this, but I can tell you my favorite wines, basically all five that I sampled.

Estate Chardonnay 2017 - mouthwatering aromas of stone fruit, white flowers, fresh herbs and mineral notes open into flavors of apricot, lemon and Asian pear, elegant in the style of a Burgundian wine yet with the richness of a New World Chardonnay

Pinot Meunier 2017 - ethereal yet structured, an elegant wine with red fruit, crushed rose petal, wild herbs and damp earth

Estate Pinot Noir 2016 - supple and refined, vibrant layers of red and dark fruit, accented by spice, with polished tannins 

777 Block Pinot Noir 2017 - generous bright red fruit unfurls alongside a grassy, dried wildflower essence, an elegant wine with silky tannins and a long expansive finish

Wadenswil Block Pinot Noir 2017 - intense dark fruit and spice notes build in this dense, earthy wine, well balanced with hints of cocoa and violets

DANCIN Vineyards

DANCIN Vineyards Septette Pinot Noir

Cindy and Dan Marca of DANCIN Vineyards

DANCIN Vineyards Piqué Sangiovese

DANCIN Vineyards En Avant Chardonnay

DANCIN Vineyards Restaurant

DANCIN Vineyards is basically a love story incarnate.  Dan and Cindy Marca met and fell in love in 1995, as serendipity would have it, through chance and flooded highways in Monterey, California.  Three months later, they married and shortly after, started their journey of wine.  Searching for vineyard land, the Marcas discovered Southern Oregon, and the dance began, jumping into all aspects of wine with both feet.  As Dan says, “We met through nature, now we work with nature.”  The name, DANCIN, is a play on both of their first names, but also Cindy’s love of ballet and music.  Dan originally wanted to make Barbera, but discovered that DANCIN’s site was cool and better suited to Pinot Noir. Today, DANCIN handcrafts fifteen Pinot Noir wines from seven different clones, in addition to nine Chardonnays from four clones, plus several other wines.  The wines are labelled after movements in ballet, because of their symmetry to the dedication and discipline it takes in dance to produce a graceful and beautiful performance.  It’s a thoughtful process, of blending art and science, food and wine, nature and love into one of life’s mesmerizing pleasures. In addition to the tasting room and winery, there is a restaurant on site, where the true beauty of food and their award-winning wine can be experienced.  The story of DANCIN Vineyards also deserves its own spotlight, and a feature article will follow.

Dan Marca pours his Chardonnay for SoCal Restaurant Show radio host Andrew Harris

DANCIN Septette Pinot Noir

DANCIN Barbera

DANCIN Finale Port

(L-R) Cindy, son Austin, Chef Desiree Baird and Dan

Our group of writers were hosted by Dan and Cindy to an incredible lunch and tasting at their very scenic hillside winery/restaurant.  Over a four course lunch, the story of DANCIN unfurled, while tasting almost a dozen wines alongside fabulous food.  These were my favorites:

“Châiné” Southern Oregon Chardonnay 2017 - bright on the nose, ripe melon, key lime, green apple, and cardamom, light and pretty wine

“Septette” Southern Oregon Pinot Noir 2017 - cranberry and candied cherry fruit, with an earthy note, unfold on the nose, while red fruit and fine tannins reside within a light framework of oak, generous and lingering finish

Tribute Barrel Select Rogue Valley Barbera 2017 - a tribute to Dan’s grandmother, this smooth, deep wine has notes of plum and pepper, refined tannins and vibrant acidity keep it in beautiful balance

“Finale” Rogue Valley Port 2014 - 51% Touriga Nacional and 49% Tinta Cão, dense and rich, bright red fruit, hazelnut, and leather notes

Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden

Cowhorn has achieved the Living Building Certificate, the first wine tasting room in the world

Biodynamic wines on display at Cowhorn tasting room

Fermentation going on!

Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden, nestled in the Applegate Valley, is uniquely focused on Rhône varietals, a perfect fit for the rocky river bed soils underneath the vineyard.  Hot and dry, these conditions give rise to excellent white and red Rhône-style wines.  Bill and Barbara Steele were drawn to this site, with a dream of crafting quality wines in concert with nature.  In 2002, Bill Steele found this organic farm and did an analysis of the soils.  As a Wall Street stock picker based out of San Francisco, analysis was his specialty, and the property held so much promise for what Steele envisioned.  It wasn’t so much which wine grape varietal he wanted to grow, but moving the needle to biodynamic farming.  In fact, the name “Cowhorn” refers to the symbolic cowhorn used to compost manure for biodynamic vineyard preparations.  The vineyard was planted in 2005, leaving room for farming other crops as well, notably asparagus!  A wildlife corridor helps keep Cowhorn’s vineyard healthy, while peacefully coexisting with native wildlife.  But outside of the health of the land, Steele is laser focused on making sure all facets of the winery are healthy and energy efficient.  Cowhorn has invested in green building technology, achieving the Living Building Certification for energy conservation, toxin-free, and lower carbon footprint in the winery buildings.  In fact, Cowhorn is the first tasting room in the world to receive this complex certification.

Bill Steele hard at work foot treading Tempranillo grapes

Bill Steele shares his thoughts on organic and biodynamic wines

When we arrived for a tasting and tour at Cowhorn, Steele was hard at work, foot-treading Tempranillo in a stainless steel vat.  Tasting Room Manager Charlsie Lane started us off with a tasting of six exquisite wines, and Steele joined us for an in-depth Q & A.  Viognier, Marsanne, and Rousanne make up their whites, Grenache and Syrah the reds.  Their goal, to make fine wines, all estate-grown, with ageing potential.  My favorites:

Viognier 2018 - Characterful and nuanced, aromas of peach and white flowers reveal layers of flavor, grapefruit, dried orange peel, beeswax, and ginger, floating on a long finish

Sentience 2015 - 100% Syrah, considered a “vintage expression”, rich and powerful with dark fruit, olive, sage, leather, and graphite notes, it’s fruit and earth profile was the winemaker's selection

Reserve Syrah 2013 - explosive on the palate, deep and long, this is a very complex wine, with dark fruit (blackberry, black cherry) and spice (cardamom and anise), an earthy backdrop accentuates the polished tannins

Courtesy of Quady North

Quady North, infatuated with Rhône varietal wines, embraces a sweet spot in Southern Oregon, where many different expressions, cool and warm climate, are possible.  In fact, you could say that, in the past few years, Quady North has transitioned to Rhône with a splash of Loire, actively looking for the brightness and acidity that energizes a wine.  Herb Quady is the son of California’s Andrew Quady, whose renowned Muscat dessert wines are produced under the Quady Winery label.  Herb made his way to Southern Oregon in 2005, where a love of Rhône varietal wines laid the groundwork for Quady North.  Here, two vineyard blocks, named for his two daughters, slowly took shape, in the forms of multiple Rhône varietals, from Syrah to Viognier.  But, always looking for the best vineyard sites to fulfill their minimalist winemaking approach, Quady contracted with many winegrowers to buy fruit, but not only that, eventually came to farm these vineyards as well.

Brian Gruber, winemaker for Quady North

Over dinner at Alchemy Restaurant & Bar in the Winchester Inn, Brian Gruber, winemaker for Quady North, related why branching out into the farming aspect was so important, essentially the “secret sauce” that has defined their wines.  Gruber explained, “That’s a big piece of our success, we’re thinking about grape growing for wine, we’re not taking grapes and making wine out of them, we’re starting from planting a field, putting vines in the ground, picking decisions, farming decisions all year long that make the best wine for us.  And we can see the impact on that in the winery, and how that turns into the wine, and how we can make it better, and get better every year.”

Courtesy of Quady North

Courtesy of Quady North

Quady North produces a myriad of wines, according to Gruber, with 32 different varietals used in the many small lot blends and straight varietal wines.  But Quady North also makes wines for 20 other wineries in their custom crush facility Barrel 42.  Half of their clients have an established style, so Quady and Gruber figure out how to make their wines better, through farming and winemaking decisions.  The other half aren’t sure what their style is, so they start from the ground up, “Most of our clients have vineyards, and what we’re trying to do is respect site and varietal, what they have, and what’s the best wine we can make that expressed that vineyard the best.”

Courtesy of Quady North

Courtesy of Quady North

Gruber likes to tinker, “I really like the difference and challenge of all these different things we can make, for all these different people, that’s what excites me.”  And in Mother Nature’s laboratory, Gruber has fun, applying that knowledge to their own wines, “One of my favorite wines to make is our GSM Rose, that can be as much as 6 different grapes from 30 different picks from 20 different vineyards.  That’s the palette, I’ve got this vineyard over here, it’s in a hot site, it’s growing this grape, it’s going to come in and do this to the wine, this over here, this is coming from a cold site, it’s going to have the acidity that I need to round this wine out, and this is the ripeness and the color I need over here.”  Quady and Gruber spend a lot of time innovating, thinking of new ideas.  Their newest passion, acacia barrels instead of oak.  Gruber mused, “Barrels are an art, in fact, as a winemaker, there aren’t a whole lot of decisions you make, when to pick and the barrels you put your wine in are the two biggest decisions you’ll make.”  And so, Gruber pointed out the reason for Acacia barrels, “We don’t want the barrel to impact the wine in a big way, we’re just looking for some added texture, and we find that two, three, five months in barrels that aren’t toasty give us this beautiful texture without taking away from the aromatics that we love so much.”

Over a spectacular five course dinner, paired with five wines, these were my favorites:

Ox Block Viognier 2017 - floral and aromatic, with stone fruit and citrus notes, textured and generous with a bit of weight, this Viognier is descended from the very first wine that Quady North made, incorporating the Loire influence of crisp acidity and minerality, a great food wine 

Serenade Vineyard Syrah 2015 - round and complex with notes of roasted meat, herbs and peppercorns

Mae’s Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2014 - juicy with vibrant acidity, green herbal note with tobacco, red and green peppercorns, and earth

Courtesy of Troon Vineyard

Courtesy of Troon Vineyard

Troon Vineyard, also in the Applegate Valley, is in the midst of a significant transformation, from traditional wine grape growing to organic, biodynamic, and sustainable agriculture.  Two years into a seven year plan, Troon is dedicated to regenerating the vineyard and the resulting wines, with an ambitious plan laid out by General Manager Craig Camp under the leadership of new owners Denise and Bryan White.  Originally planted by Dick Troon in 1972, the journey to growing the best quality grapes took a lot of twists and turns, but today, enthusiasm is high at the winery.  Turning tradition on its head and embracing the tenets of biodynamic, winemaking in the vineyard and minimal intervention has its rewards.  Troon’s wines emulate the coastal Mediterranean wines of Europe, from Sardegna’s Vermentino to Madiran’s Tannat, certified organic and biodynamic, the wines are distinctive and alive.  As Troon transitions, they are receiving support, guidance, and fruit from Cowhorn Vineyard’s team.

Nate Winters, seated in center of table, with the LA Wine Writers

Over a five course dinner at Peerless Restaurant & Bar, National Sales Manager Nate Winters detailed their journey of reinventing the brand.  Winters elaborated, “Over the next seven years, the replanting will take place, along with layering in these holistic approaches for the agriculture.”  Those approaches come in the form of apple orchards, chicken and geese, bee aviaries and Monarch butterflies, and growing herbs and cover crops, all to add to the diversity that is literally the spice of life.  And just to keep tabs on their progress, Winters explained, “We did the whole soil scan, we did all these research projects to give a baseline, so as we layer in these biodynamics, we can see what we’re changing, and see what makes a difference, or if it doesn’t change anything.”  The five wines that we tasted were special, two whites and three reds, and paired so well with food.

Granito Estate Vermentino 2016 - fresh with vibrant acidity, there is also a rich edge to the wine, lemon and green melon character

Côtes du Kubli Blanc Cowhorn Vineyard 2018 - a blend of 51% Viognier, 28% Marsanne and 21% Roussanne, a stylish wine, juicy and round with citrus and pear notes.

Grenache Cowhorn Vineyard 2018 - bright, graceful and floral, with red fruit and dried herbs notes

Côtes du Kubli Rouge Cowhorn Vineyard 2018 - 72% Syrah and 28% Grenache, an elegant and earthy wine, intense and textured with dark fruit, lavender and leather aromas, and baking spice notes.  

Estate Cuvée Pyrénées 2016 - a blend of 62% Tannat and 38% Malbec, a fleshy, dark fruited wine with red fruit highlights and espresso notes, floral and leather aromas play out on the smooth tannic finish, outstanding

Weisinger Family Winery

Outdoor tasting area of Weisinger Family Winery

Tasting Room Manager Felipe Romero

Award-winning wines at Weisinger Family Winery

Eric Weisinger at the helm of a new focus for Weisinger Family Wines

Weisinger award-winning Malbec wines

Weisinger Family Winery is the oldest winery in Ashland, launched in 1988, and was originally planted with Gewurztraminer in 1978 by John Weisinger.  Since, a new generation has reinvented the brand, his son, Eric, has transferred Weisinger’s focus from Pinot Noir to the more suitable warmer climate grape varietals.  Their focus, Grenache, Malbec, Syrah and Tempranillo for reds, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Viognier for whites, with a small lot of Estate Gewurztraminer as an homage to John, a pioneer of Rogue Valley wine country.  Their wines are the essence of local, either estate grown or locally sourced fruit, with some of the best fruit grown in nearby Bear Creek Valley, the stars, Tempranillo, Malbec, and Syrah.  Grown with minimal intervention to showcase the fruit’s personality, all vineyard specific, Weisinger wines are gaining notice, with many award-winning wines in their lineup.  Tasting Room Manager Felipe Romero tasted us through a dozen wines in the tasting room, these were my Weisinger Family Vineyard favorites:

Chardonnay Gold Vineyard 2017 - Burgundian-style with texture and creaminess

Grenache Meadowlark Vineyard 2016 - delicate and expressive 

Malbec Gold Vineyard 2016 - big and fruity, with plum, blueberry, violets, and touch of white pepper, elegant wine

Mescolare Lot 23 Gold Vineyard NV - this non-vintage wine is spicy and fruity, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, opulent and juicy, with a red fruit profile and hint of pepper in a toasty oak frame

Syrah Cedar Ridge Vineyard 2015 - dark fruit (black cherry, plum, blueberry, blackberry) accented with white pepper and clove notes, and touches of leather and coffee

Eric Weisinger shares barrel samples of his Gewurztraminer wines

Eric Weisinger gave us a taste of the Sauvignon Blanc in barrel

Afterwards, Eric Weisinger toured us through the winery, answering questions and barrel tasting several wines, from Gewurztraminer to Texas Hill Country Tannat!  Yes, it seems that Weisinger Family Winery does custom crush work for other wineries, and with father John’s connections in his new home of Texas, winemaking work has flowed their way.  Future plans include building a new custom crush facility at the original winery next year, and a production facility in Texas in the next few years.

Irvine & Roberts winemaker Vince Vidrine

It’s an exciting time in Southern Oregon and the Rogue Valley, attracting winemakers and producers that are crafting expressive and diverse wines.  There’s so much to explore and discover, and whether you visit the region, or pick a bottle off the shelf at your local wine shop, the pioneer spirit of this area is in every bottle, with so much potential and already successful on so many levels, they are on the cutting edge, redefining what you think you might know about Oregon wine.