Was Willamette Valley Pinot Noir "born lucky"?

Today we take it for granted that the Willamette Valley is a world-class wine region. It has spent much of its five-plus decades either well on its way to fame or basking in it. However, that wasn't always the case. The Willamette Valley's rapid ascent to a position of such prestige is the result of many factors.

     The foundation of the Valley's success is its numerous natural assets. Like Burgundy, the motherland of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, it lies along the 45th parallel north. Being situated between two mountain ranges, the Willamette Valley is protected from the hot and dry high desert to the east and the cold and wet pacific ocean to the west. The resulting Maritime climate is ideally suited for wine growing. In addition, the varied Geologic history characterized by volcanic lava flows, ancient sea floors, and massive ice-age floods gives rise to varied soils and topography, many of which are ideally suited for wine growing.

      This collection of natural attributes, in the mid-1960s, drew the attention of a few of the earlier wine pioneers. These early pioneers' determination, passion, and vision contributed to Willamette Valley's rapid rise. In addition, a willingness to cooperate, share and learn from one another, a feature of our Industries culture that continues to this day, further accelerated the region's success.

      These variables are well documented and discussed; this post isn't a rehashing or summary. Writer EB White said, "luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men." Like most success stories, the story of the Willamette Valley understates the role of luck.

     Though the winegrowing Pioneers of the sixties and seventies planted many grapes, the parallel's drawn between the Willamette Valley, and Burgundy's Cote d'Or had most bets placed on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Yet by the mid-1990s, Pinot Gris dwarfed Chardonnay in both planted acreage and production. During this time, Chardonnay had, globally, eclipsed Riesling as the king of white wines and become the most planted white wine grape on the planet.

     Despite the marketplace's general neglect of Pinot Noir, The Willamette Valley had been establishing itself as the new world Mecca for the grape. Its planted acreage and production grew steadily. Prices increased. Then in 2004, the movie Sideways led to the beheading of Merlot as America's darling red, and Pinot Noir was now a contender. Oregon was poised to assume a prominent position in the consumer's mind.

“What if, like the chardonnay selections, the Pinot Noir clones brought here by the first growers didn't perform well?”

     How could the trajectories of two grapes with similar, if not identical, climatic niches be so different? In the early 2000s, the Willamette Valley's reputation, planted acreage, and production of Pinot Noir increased well ahead of the rest of the world. At the same time, Chardonnay exploded elsewhere but threatened to be a footnote in Oregon's wine history.

     The Answer? Genetics, well, partly, anyway. The early pioneers had access to limited sources of wine grape plant material. They had access to the UC Davis collections and, in some cases, access to cuttings from California vineyards.  Much of the early plantings of Chardonnay were of Clone UCD 108 and a few selections from California vineyards, such as Wente, that had shown great potential there. For Pinot Noir, there were more options available. Among them were UCD 1A and UCD 4, also known as the Wadenswil and Pommard clones, respectively.

     Though a few "suitcase" clones were introduced along the way, it wasn't until the late 1980s that the "Dijon" clones were gifted to OSU from Dr. Raymond Bernard of France's Office National Interprofessional de Vins, that more plant material became widely available to vintners.

     By the mid-1990s, enthusiasm for the Dijon clones was apparent as new vineyard development was dominated by the new clones, sometimes to the complete exclusion of the proven Wädenswil and Pommard material. Yet by the early 2000's it had become clear that the originals, Pommard and Wadenswil, were among winemakers' favorites. Meanwhile, the limited interest and planting of Chardonnay did favor the new clones, especially clones 76 and 95, but it would take considerably more time to reveal their potential.

     We now know that the early Chardonnay materials, which were ideal for California, failed to sufficiently ripen in Oregon's cool, wet climate. However, the Dijon Clones have since shown their worth. They are an essential factor in the Chardonnay renaissance now taking place in the Willamette Valley.

     But what about luck?  In hindsight, we now know that Chardonnay didn't take off or even keep pace with the overall demand for the grape because of a misalignment of the genetic material and the unique climate of the Willamette Valley. Shortly after the arrival of better-suited genetics, we began to see the reputation and demand for Willamette Valley Chardonnay rise.

     What if, like the chardonnay selections, the Pinot Noir clones brought here by the first growers didn't perform well? The Willamette Valley's reputation is built on Pinot Noir. Other grapes, including Pinot Gris, have only been able to piggyback on the success of Pinot Noir. Imagine David Lett planting The Eyrie's South Block to a clone that didn't produce the legendary 1975 South Block Reserve. Consider all of the things that would not have happened had Pommard and Wadenswil not been ideally suited for the Willamette Valley's climatic niche.

     I have tremendous respect for the pioneers of our Industry. However, they couldn't have known that the cuttings in the beds of their trucks would make wines that would, fifty years later, build an entire Industry. No amount of passion, sweat, or blood would have overcome the limitations of the wrong genetics. They were lucky. And so are we.