Willamette Valley makes wine up close and personal

The effect on your senses is more vivid than a hearty glass of pinot noir with dinner.

First you weave your way along a jammed Interstate 5 through Portland, travel west at Highway 99W toward Oregon coast beaches and McMinnville, survive stop-and-go traffic through Tigard, then break out into the fragrant, lush and rural Willamette Valley near Newberg.

The 20-minute transformation from urban to rural is one of the most abrupt I've run into in all travels.

Where Portland offers a rich cultural and modern, fast-paced existence, the valley is a place where it all slows down. Large acreage plots (at a price) can still be bought, and the rural, almost farmlike lifestyle can still be had. Aging hazelnut farms and orchards still dot the landscape, while acres and acres of grass for seed flank many of the back roads of towns such as Newberg, Dayton, Dundee, Carlton, Amity, Yamhill and McMinnville, and even west Salem.

However, those crops take a backseat to another in the valley -- grapes. The ability to grow one particular grape has attracted numerous winemakers whose only goal in life is to make a better pinot noir than his or her neighbor. Because of the cool, crisp climate and rich soil, the pinot grape is most comfortable growing on the valley's slopes. The grape, in fact, has made the approximately 60-mile-wide, 100-mile-long Willamette Valley slightly famous over the past 30 years.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Eric Hamacher's Carlton Winemakers Studio offers a maximum of 10 winemakers all of the highest-tech facilities they need to make wine and enough storage area to age their products. Hamacher makes his own wine as well, under the Hamacher Wines Inc. label.

Today the Willamette Valley sports two-thirds of the state's wineries and vineyards. Because of a fickle climate that can exasperate growers, the region often is compared to the Burgundy and Alsace regions of France. More than 200 wineries produce thousands of cases of pinot noir each year, along with a lesser amount of chardonnay (more recently), pinot gris, pinot blanc, cabernet, merlot and syrah.

An entrepreneurial spirit, probably akin to that of our forefathers, seems to permeate the area. Many of the wineries in the valley, which covers two counties -- Yamhill to the north and Polk -- are described as mom-and-pop style because they generally are family-owned and smaller than most wineries in California, smaller even than most of the Yakima Valley wineries.

The wineries' selling season generally starts over Memorial Day weekend. If you were in the valley this past weekend, you weren't alone. "Let the tasting begin" was the cry heard from one end of the valley to the other.

Doug Tunnell has owned a 40-acre vineyard and winery on Ribbon Ridge above the Chehalem Valley near Newberg since 1990, one of those mom-and-pop operations, called Brick House vineyards. He says being certified "organic" means a better-tasting wine. And like everyone else in the valley, he has the majority of his 40-acre vineyard planted in pinot.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Rex Hill Vineyards in Newberg comes alive in spring.

Tunnell grew up in the region and became an award-winning broadcast journalist and foreign correspondent for CBS News in the 1970s and '80s. He said he does his best work when he's alone, without any distractions. "That's when the stories flowed when I was a journalist," he said. Since he left that profession, he's discovered that winemaking soothes his soul in the same way. His wines are all hand-crafted and bottled -- the way it was meant to be, he says.

The remoteness of his vineyard -- about as far from Beirut and Panama as you can get -- attests to Tunnell's need for "lack of distractions." He lives with his wife, two cats and three dogs in a large brick house centrally situated on the property -- thus the name of the winery. He said he laughs every time someone asks how he came up with the winery name, as they stand in the shadow of his big brick house.

Tunnell's reporting was touted as powerful during the Panama invasion when U.S. forces swept in and captured Manuel Noriega. But, honestly, the 2003 pinot noir we sipped in his 1931 horse-barn tasting room, which featured a grand view of the Chehalem Valley being lashed by a storm, probably put his Panama reporting to shame. Tunnell's certified organic wines are expensive, and tasting is by appointment only, Thursday through Sunday -- but it's fun.

Bethel Heights vineyard near Salem could be considered a mom-and-pop operation too, I guess, since it has been owned by five members of the same family since 1978. The hillside winery sports one of the oldest vineyards established in the Eola Hills, near the west edge of Salem, in the southern part of the Willamette Valley. The winemaker and vineyard manager -- Ted and Terry Casteel, respectively -- are twin brothers.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Penner-Ash Cellars, a brand-new winery owned by Ron Ash and his wife, Lynn Penner-Ash, is one of the sleekest in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

Between storm fronts, I asked Ted's wife and marketing specialist, Pat Dudley, to wander out into the vineyard for a photograph, where she graciously pointed out the different ages of the grape vines. Part of the vineyard is almost adjacent to the tasting room, which features one of the best views among the valley's wineries. The thunder and lightning storms during my visit only amplified the beauty of the region.

And, naturally, most of the vineyard's 50 acres are planted in pinot (why did I even ask). The rest are planted in chardonnay. The tasting room is roomy, with high, lofted ceilings. The winery is not nearly as remote as Brick House, but in a way it still felt almost as homey. Tasting hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It's not exactly winemaking by committee, but when you group 10 winemakers in the same building, it sometimes looks that way. The point of Eric Hamacher's Carlton Winemakers Studio, in Carlton, is to offer a maximum of 10 different winemakers all of the highest-tech facilities they need to make wine, and enough storage area to age their products.

The winemakers co-op was Eric's brainchild just over two years ago and with some financial backing, talented partners and a popular tasting room, the personable young man has turned it into a space that future winemakers are lined up waiting to enjoy. Currently there are no vacancies.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Former CBS News foreign correspondent Doug Tunnell has owned an organic vineyard and winery called Brick House near Newberg since 1990.

The 10 wineries have color-coded everything. While we were talking, Eric interrupted and pointed at two guys talking near some wine kegs. "That's two wineries talking," he said. Hamacher makes his own wine as well, under the Hamacher Wines Inc. label. The studio is the first multiple winery built in Oregon and the first winery registered with the U.S. Green Building Council. It was built with passive solar for energy, and recycled materials from demolished buildings.

The academy award-nominated movie "Sideways" (filmed mostly in California's Napa Valley) is understandably popular in the Willamette Valley. So Ron Ash and his fellow winemaker/wife, Lynn Penner-Ash, hired actors from a local comedy club to perform some of the outrageous wine scenes from the movie during the private grand opening last weekend of their winery, Penner-Ash Wine Cellars. The winery will be open to the public for tasting from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Sunday beginning tomorrow.

The all-new, 16,000-square-foot winery is one of the sleekest and most modern in the valley. The winery is a far cry from Tunnell's tiny, organic Brick House facility, but it overlooks the same Chehalem Valley near Newberg. On a clear day, visitors to the tasting room can see Mount Hood. Construction was almost complete while I was there as the couple frantically prepared for the private opening over Memorial Day weekend. Before they started to build the winery, they bulldozed 80 acres of poison-oak-infested hillside to plant a vineyard, 80 percent of which is (you guessed it) pinot.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Jim Prosser, owner and winemaker for J.K. Carriere Wines in Newberg, is at his wine tasting station inside the barn he leases from a bed-and-breakfast nearby. He runs an almost one-man show.

Jim Prosser shuns what he calls the wineries "with the glossy brochures" and "large marketing staffs." He runs an almost one-man show out of a 100-year-old white barn on a bed-and-breakfast's elegant property in Newberg. Flanked by an 85-year-old hazelnut orchard, the barn Prosser leases houses his J.K. Carriere winery, as well as a beautiful mobile sculpture by local artist Larry Kirkland called "Soulboat." The pinot noir I drank (the only wine Prosser makes) wasn't as old as the barn, but with four years under its belt, it was good enough for me. Prosser, 42, has worked for eight different winemakers in four countries, including Burgundy, France.

One of those wineries with the "glossy brochures" and the look to match is the Tuscan villa look-alike Domaine Serene Winery and Vineyards, perched high on a hilltop in Dayton. The five-level, 100 percent gravity-flow winery means the wine never has to travel through any plastic hoses -- from the crush to the bottle. Marketing specialist Allan Carter told me the owners believe the pinot grape "remembers everything you do to it."

The owner, by the way, is chief executive officer of a large pharmaceutical company in the Midwest and likes to dabble in winemaking. The $20 million winery produces only 15,000 cases per year -- a small number for such a large winery. The beauty of the moneyed backers, Carter said, is that they can ship their wines when the wine is ready to be drunk -- not a year or two before it reaches its best potential.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Allen Carter, marketing specialist for Domaine Serene Winery and Vineyards in Dayton, poses at the bottom of the five-story staircase that is the central focus of the building. The wine is made by a gravity flow process so it doesn't have to pass through any tubes.

Be sure to take a tour and check out the five-story staircase -- before you taste the wine -- that miraculously holds the whole villa together. All their pinots are superb, even to my amateur palate.

I rarely recommend restaurants, but after an afternoon of wine tasting, you should buzz into historical downtown McMinnville to LaRambla, a touch of old Spain in the middle of town. Chet and Kathy Stoler were building the restaurant when I was there last year and I promised I would return. It was worth it.

Try the tapas (small plate) specialties that cost $3 to $14. My favorite was the pork. The main dishes are made primarily from local ingredients with an emphasis on freshness. The fresh halibut was outstanding ($21). The ambience is special, with a large, elegant bar that dominates the floor plan. The Stolers also feature many local wines in their extensive list -- most likely from some of the wineries where you were drinking for free earlier in the day.

Willamette Valley Wineries Association -- 503-646-2985; www.willamettewines.com The association has an excellent map of the valley and winery locations.

Brick House Vineyard -- 18200 Lewis Rogers Lane, Newberg; 503-538-5136; www.brickhousewines.com

Penner-Ash Wine Cellars -- Newberg; 503-554-5545; www.pennerash.com

Bethel Heights Vineyard -- 6060 Bethel Heights Road N.W., Salem; www.bethelheights.com

Domaine Serene Vineyards and Winery -- 6555 N.E. Hilltop Lane, Dayton; 503-864-4600; www.domaineserene.com

Carlton Winemakers Studio -- 801 N. Scott St., Carlton; 503-852-6100; www.winemakersstudio.com

J.K. Carriere Wines -- 30295 Benjamin Road, Newberg; 503-554-0721; www.jkcarriere.com

LaRambla Restaurant and Bar -- 238 N.E. Third St., McMinnville; 503-435-2126

Copyright © Seattle Post-Intelligencer