EYRIE (need I say more?)
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Hi everyone –
It’s that time of year again!
February 22nd is EYRIE DAY, the day that David Lett planted the very first Pinot Noir vines in the ground in Willamette Valley. It was specifically February 22nd, 1965. Sixty years ago this week.
And it was caught in an amazing and iconic photo:
David Lett christening the new vines with a bottle of Burgundy. February 22, 1965.
Fast forward a few decades and one of the most impactful experiences of our wine life occurred in the Red Hills of Dundee, where we met up with Jason Lett for a tour of the original vines.
Jason with the last of the Original Vines, which are slowly being replanted due to phylloxera.
Photo by Angela Kallsen.
Over the course of that afternoon, we heard amazing stories from Jason about growing up in Willamette Valley, running through the vineyards as a kid, working hard with his father for many years, and taking over after his dad passed away. Jason has continued trailblazing, becoming one of the top voices in the world of organic and regenerative farming, along with what I like to call pre-industrial winemaking.
Eyrie Vineyards is hands down one of our favorite wineries. Many of you know that.
But it can be kinda hard to find all of their wines. They show up on the top wine lists, one bottle at a time. The best wine shops might have one or two varieties. But most people don’t realize the breadth of their production. So we happily present to you EVERYTHING that is available right now in the Twin Cities. Here we go!
Some quick background
Eyrie Vineyards produces all of their wines from the five estate vineyards, which step up the side of the Dundee Hills outside Newberg, Oregon. All vineyards are farmed organically and certified salmon-safe, and the wines are made in the historic former chicken coop in McMinnville that has been the (cramped) home of Eyrie since the founding of the winery.
Each vineyard has its own personality and style, and a variety of grapes are planted at each location. The largest vineyard is Sisters, at the bottom of the hill, and contains the greatest diversity. The original vines are a small parcel of The Eyrie Vineyard, which adjoins Outcrop. Further up the hill is Roland Green, where the long-time vineyard manager for Eyrie lives. At the tippy top of the Dundee Hills is the Daphne Vineyard, which pokes its head over the fog line most of the year.
My notes below include some phrasing I’ve used for these wines in the past, for I’m kinda proud of the writing. I’ve updated it for current vintages and tasting notes.
The Eyrie Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir 2021
If there’s one Eyrie Vineyards wine to grab, this is it.
Coming from a combination of all five vineyards going up the Red Hills of Dundee, this wine epitomizes the Eyrie style and encapsulates its history. Jason Lett consistently brings out delicacy and balance in this wine, showcasing the beauty of Pinot Noir along with structure.
From the winery website:
The Estate blend combines Pinot from Eyrie’s 5 certified-organic estate vineyards. Farming is certified organic, but Jason and his team take this only as a starting point. Viticulture at all of the Estate vineyards follows the precepts of regenerative no-till farming, with strict attention paid not just to the vines but to the healthy networks of soil organisms that support them. Not only does this approach avoid the need for artificial irrigation, it also nourishes the vines without the need for additional fertilizer, and captures atmospheric carbon.
Picked by hand, our Pinot noir is destemmed and put into a variety of fermenters, from small one-ton bins to a 5 ton wooden cuve, to undergo native primary fermentation. Our barrels are mostly neutral—for this vintage, only 8% were new. Having undergone native malolactic fermentation and aged for almost 2 years, the 2021 Pinot noir was blended after 22 months, racked once without filtration, and then bottled and sealed under Diam cork.
Reviews of the 2021 Estate Pinot Noir:
Vinous 94+ “The 2021 Pinot Noir Estate lifts from the glass with a mentholated freshness, giving way to dried roses and strawberries. Silky and enveloping, it possesses a core of vividly ripe wild berries and sweet herbal tones that resonate over a tactile staining of saline minerals. Grippy tannins saturate through the long, spicy finish as repleting inner florals and bitter hints of licorice fade.”
Wine Advocate 94 “The 2021 Pinot Noir Estate is blended from all five of Eyrie’s estate vineyards: the Eyrie, Sisters, Outcrop, Roland Green and Daphne. Cranberry, raspberry and strawberry aromas are accented by wafts of autumn leaves, earth and dried herbs. The light-bodied palate features concentrated berry, earth and spice layers. It’s framed by softly astringent tannins and vibrant acidity, and it has a long, nuanced finish.”
Jeb Dunnuck 93 “The medium ruby 2021 Pinot Noir Estate is fresh with aromas of wild strawberries, fresh roses, and beet root. Medium-bodied and elegant, it floats across the palate with fine tannins and a delicately earthy finish. It’s a killer value and a great snapshot of what Eyrie is all about. It is hands down one of the best entry level Pinot Noir with a clear vision of what you can expect further in the range. Drink 2023-2030.”
Eyrie Chardonnay Estate 2022 and 2023
I’m going to say the same thing I did last year about the previous vintage: THIS MAY CURRENTLY BE THE BEST CHARDONNAY MADE IN AMERICA. Those are some big words, and of course everyone has their own interpretation of what a Chardonnay should be like. But here’s my litmus test: a truly great Chardonnay has to balance richness with leanness, playing ripe apple to mineral and lime aromas and flavors. It’s an almost unattainable balancing act, and one that I’ve only experienced a few times in my life.
And almost always that balance is only from Burgundy: Ettienne Sauzet, the best of Joseph Drouhin, the rarities of Ponsot, and select top level whites usually grown in Puligy-Montrachet or Meursault.
The Eyrie Chardonnay is the Grand Cru Chardonnay of America. Simple as that. You want the best? Here it is.
(For your Burgundy-heads, the style of this wine falls into the Meursault camp … richer and textured but still defined by great acidity.)
Both the 2022 and 2023 are in stock. I’ve had both, and one is not better than the other, so we’re offering the 2022 out of the gate and will switch to the 2023 directly after that.
The Eyrie Vineyards Trousseau 2019
This is what we call a ‘Sasquatch wine’ for some people have heard of it but few have ever seen it. Rumors are out there that there’s a grainy 8mm film of a bottle running through the woods. A Trousseau footprint was found in the snow in 1972, according to Leonard Nemoi.
Trousseau is the great grape of Jura, France, and it’s also made its way to Spain and Portugal, where it’s known as Bastardo. It’s a grape that makes a big statement in a wine: loads of plum and forest floor aromas along with a warming mouthfeel and super long finish. This is a fantastic example of what Trousseau is capable of.
We enjoyed a bottle of this with Thanksgiving dinner in 2023. Our stuffing was wild rice with parsnips, carrots, and mushrooms. The umami-rich flavors of the dressing played perfectly with the Trousseau.
This is also one of those great wines to pull out when you have wine friends over, especially anyone in the industry or a sommelier. It’s a wine geek’s wine all the way through.
The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Meunier 2019
Like the Trousseau, here’s another Sasquatch wine! There is a tiny (and I do mean TINY) amount of Pinot Meunier planted at The Eyrie Vineyards, and on select vintages Jason Lett separates out a wee bit to be bottled on its own. Also like the Trousseau, the label is a bit different (without the iconic hawk and tree) so sometimes it actually goes overlooked in shops. People don’t even realize what’s in front of them!
Meunier is super cool, making an ethereal wine with pronounced strawberry and floral aromas, along with fine acidity that plays beautifully with foods. Want a perfect red wine pairing with seafood? Here you go!
Only 356 cases produced. 93 points James Suckling:
Aromas of wild raspberries and fresh strawberries with touches of dried roses and leaves. Medium-bodied with fine, silky tannins. Some savory character to the fresh fruit. Soft yet textured on the palate with bright acidity and a racy finish. Drink now.
FROM THE ORIGINAL VINEYARD!
The Eyrie Vineyards “The Eyrie” Pinot Noir 2021
First, a little explanation and clarity. The Eyrie Vineyards (plural) is the name of the winery. The winery owns and controls a series of single vineyards stepping up the hills of Dundee: Sisters, The Eyrie, Outcrop, Roland Green, and Daphne.
The Estate Pinot Noir bottling (previously discussed) is a blend of the estate vineyards which step up the Dundee Hills.
At the winery, they also have the single-vineyard designations available for sale. You can learn about all the different vineyards at The Eyrie Vineyards website.
Halfway up that hill is The Eyrie Vineyard (singular) and the source for this wine.
That vineyard is the sacred ground, the spot where David and Diana Lett planted the very first Pinot Noir vines in the whole Willamette Valley. And that is what’s in this bottle.
Think about this: if you knew who planted the first Pinot Noir in Burgundy, that would be pretty damn cool, right? And what if you could go to that single spot and see the actual first vines? And what if you could buy a bottle from that vineyard?
But that’s what you can do here. And it’s soon to be a passenger pigeon. The Eyrie Vineyard was planted on its own rootstock, for phylloxera was nowhere in Oregon in the 1960s and assumed to be too cold in the winter for the bug to survive. Alas, phylloxera did indeed arrive and has slowly been consuming the vines. The original vines are being slowly replaced with new vines on healthy rootstock. (Some of you may remember this wine used to say “Original Vines” on the label, but with the vines being replaced Jason Lett dropped that designation.)
This 2021 is ethereal, and a wine that stops me in my tracks. It takes me a LONG time to go through a glass of it because I stop and just keep swirling and smelling, over and over again.
The rarest of the rarities: Eyrie “South Block” Pinot Noir 2016
Warning: this wine is not cheap (regular price is $299.99). And it’s not for everybody. But my oh my it’s something special.
The single best and most historically significant Pinot Noir made outside of Burgundy. Period. End of story.
This wine is not only from the original and first block of Pinot ever planted in Willamette Valley, by David and Diana Lett in 1966, but it’s a chosen particular part of that vineyard that has always made the best wine. Once the vines were a few years old and David Lett was starting to get a feel for them, the quality of this block became obvious and he immediately stopped adding it into his regular wine, instead fermenting it separately, bottling it separately, and holding the bottles back. His son Jason Lett continues the ethos of Eyrie and makes a tiny bit of this wine every vintage.
It’s rarely available to the public. We offered some in our high-end pre-Christmas offering and a few bottles went out. A few more are available, and that’s it.
From the winery website:
Planted in 1968, the South Block occupies a small corner of the first vines planted at Eyrie – a mere 10 rows of Pinot noir. As Jason’s father, Eyrie founder David Lett discovered, these ten rows came to express a magical spot on Oregon’s Dundee Hills – a place where 6 different soil types converge. The unique presence of the wine so captivated David that he first bottled it as a single block selection in 1975.
Placing in the top ranks of back-to-back French competitions in 1979 and 1980, The Eyrie Vineyards’ 1975 South Block Reserve Pinot noir further revealed its merit. It was the first American Pinot noir to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of Burgundy’s best vintages in competition. Not only did the results bring acclaim to The Eyrie Vineyards – it showed Oregon’s potential as a wine-producing region to the world.
David continued to craft his South Block Reserve for four decades. When Jason assumed winemaking duties from his ailing father in 2005, he requested that David continue to make the South Block. The original vines planted at Eyrie continue to produce stunning wines. Unfortunately, time has also brought the progression of phylloxera in the vineyard, a tiny blight that over the last two centuries has been causing devastation worldwide by attacking the roots of ungrafted grape vines. Seeing the slow demise of the South Block, Jason has chosen to make the most of the limited time this treasure has left.
The best tribute to this unique site is the wine it creates.
Jason and Jason walking into the original Eyrie Vineyard, January 2023.
In conclusion / buying advice
There’s a small but beloved list of wineries that we support in every way possible. At the top of that list is The Eyrie Vineyards. Every year we celebrate Eyrie Day, and this year we’ll be in Oregon raising a glass.
Grab a few bottles. Take your time with them. Enjoy with great food and great wine friends. Sip slowly. Contemplate. And appreciate what this winery and the Lett family are all about, and the gifts they have given us.
Thanks, everyone!
Jason Kallsen
Sommelier and founder/owner of Twin Cities Wine Education
Offer and special pricing are available as inventory lasts