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Passion for great Pinot brought former Wall-Street exec Dick Shea to Oregon, and he found his nirvana on a steep, sloping hill just west of Ribbon Ridge. 140 acres are planted, with older blocks going back to 1989 and new plantings continuing as you read this.
Shea vineyard is on a South-facing slope of Willakenzie soils, at elevations of 275 to 600 feet. We currently work with one of the few remaining original plantings here - own-rooted Pommard clone in Block 21. Phylloxera is creeping into this block, and it will likely have to be replanted after the 2007 or 2008 growing seasons. We also work with younger vine Dijon clones from the South Block. Shea is dry-farmed, and is brilliantly managed by Javier Marin. Regarded as one of the premier vineyards in Oregon, Shea was recently named one of only four “Grand Cru” Pinot Noir vineyards in the U.S. For more information click here.
114 acres are planted on a South-facing slope of the famed Red Hills, on Jory soil – a reddish, volcanic soil that is primarily decomposed basalt. Bill Stoller’s family bought the land in the 1940s, and it was planted to grapes in 1995.
We have a 1.86 acre parcel we call Goat Block, named after the small army of goats that patrol the nearby fence and keep the weeds down. Stoller is managed by Allen Holstein, who also controls viticulture for Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Argyle, and Knudsen Vineyard. Allen manages over 400 acres of the top Pinot Noir vineyards in the Willamette Valley, and is widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and talented in the business. Stoller is a LIVE certified vineyard. For more information, click here.
 Dewey and Robin Kelly’s 9 acre vineyard is one of the true jewels of the Ribbon Ridge AVA. The Kellys, both longtime chefs and fixtures of the Oregon culinary scene, purchased the land in the early 1970s, and were married on the land nearly 25 years ago. They realized their dream of planting a Pinot Noir vineyard here in 2001.
We have several smaller blocks here totaling 4 acres for Scott Paul, equally split between Pommard and 777 clones. The vineyard slopes South-East, and is planted on 5’x5’ spacing. Surrounded by Beaux Frères, Archery Summit, and Bryce Vineyard, this is truly a favored site for Pinot Noir. Management is handled by top Oregon consultant Buddy Beck. Ribbon Ridge will soon be another LIVE certified vineyard. For more information click here.
 Our proud association with Momtazi Vineyard began in 2006. We’re honored to work with Mo and Flora Momtazi, René, Todd Hamina and their entire team. Momtazi is biodynamically farmed – the only agricultural system that doesn’t deplete or take anything away from the soils, and the oldest natural farming system in existence. Everything is done in harmony with the moon and stars, and only homeopathic amounts of biodynamic teas are applied to the vines – no chemicals, period. (click here for more information.)
Our five acres here are split between Blocks A, D, & E – we have Dijon clones 114, 115 & 777 - all planted in 1999. Many top winegrowers around the world are now using biodynamic methods with great results. Momtazi is the first biodynamically farmed property we've worked with, the first step in our goal of working exclusviely with organic or biodynamic sites. Since 2005 we've been following biodynamic practices in the winery – timing any wine movements, bottling, etc. in conjunction with the biodynamic calendar.
Maresh Vineyard is situated high in the Dundee Hills on a beautiful south-facing slope. Planted in 1970, this is the 5th oldest vineyard in Oregon, and the oldest on Worden Hill Rd. in the Dundee Hills AVA.
Few Oregon winemakers ever get to work with truly “Old Vines”, and Maresh is a precious jewel. We are honored to be able to lease a significant piece of this historic vineyard, and begin farming it ourselves as of the 2007 growing season. We will convert our parcels at Maresh to biodynamic farming over the next two years - going organic in 2007 and biodynamic for 2008. Longtime Maresh viticulturist Sterling Fox will head up farming for us here.
Our mission is to hand-craft small lots of exquisite Oregon Pinot Noir. To us that means wines of elegance and finesse, wines imbued with femine, sensual qualities. We don’t try to make wines that will hit you over the head. We want to make wines that will seduce you. Think Audrey Hepburn, rather than Pamela Anderson.
Our winemaking regimen is hands-off, gentle, non-interventionist, our techniques and philosophy are shaped by Burgundian tradition. No pumps, no inoculation, no enzymes, no additives. New French Oak is kept to less than 20%.
We currently offer three limited-production cuvées:
A selection of the absolute finest wine of the vintage, Audrey is extremely limited.
Simply put, it’s our selection of the purest, most elegant wine of the vintage. Inspired by a timeless icon of style, elegance, and grace, the wine is called Audrey.
A selection of just a few barrels – this is our crème-de-la-crème, our attempt to show the best we can produce if we cherry-pick the very best in our cellar. Less than 200 cases of this silky gem are produced
Seamless and seductive from the moment it hits the palate, this is silken-textured Pinot with sweet raspberries, wild strawberries, and floral notes on the nose, and bursts of red and black fruits in the mouth. Beautiful sweet fruit on the mid-palate, exceptionally long and refined. Pure Pinot, pure Audrey.
A selection of the best lots each vintage, La Paulée is made in very limited quantities.
Every year in the cellar there are certain lots of wine that simply jump out at you with their intensity of flavors, multiple layers of complexity, and superior length. These are the lots that comprise the La Paulée bottling. Rather than pre-determine which vineyards or blocks this wine will come from year-to-year, we would rather select the best of what the vintage has given us, and craft the best wine we possibly can. (I know this is counter to the concept of “terroir” – which is a concept that I truly believe in. I do not believe, however, that we can say we know much about terroir yet here in Oregon, with most of the vineyards being less than 15 years old. Give us another 25 years and we can start to talk about it. Perhaps then a vineyard designation will really mean something. For now, I don’t believe so…)
A wine meant for drinking over the first five years – fruit-forward, silky, pure Pinot Noir.
Named after our daughter (Martha Pirrie Wright – she goes by “Pirrie”.) An assemblage of wines from multiple vineyard sites, this wine comes from a combination of young and older vines in the Dundee Hills and Ribbon Ridge districts of the Willamette Valley. Clonal selections are also diverse, ranging from own-rooted Pommard to several different Dijon-clones on assorted rootstocks.
What the world really needs (besides peace, love, and understanding) is agreat affordable Pinot Noir. Most wine drinkers don’t discover the joys of Pinot until many years into their journey with wine – or perhaps they never do - simply because there is not a reliably good Pinot Noir under $30 to be had. The joys of great Pinot Noir are most often found at price points north of $35 or $40. However, the vast majority of wine drinkers never spend that much for a bottle of wine.
We are on a mission to spread the complex, ethereal, satin-textured joys of Pinot (once you go Pinot, you never go back!) You shouldn’t have to wait until your disposable income exceeds the net worth of a small nation to enjoy the delights of Pinot Noir. Cuvée Martha Pirrie is a wine that delivers the seductive, sexy side of Pinot, at a price that fits.
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