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w i n e B U S INE S S OREGON wineries Best Worst The Ridgecrest Vineyards Pinot Noir has 10 foot x 6 foot vine spacing (726 vines per acre) yielding 1.5 tons per acre for Chehalem Wines in 2011 (Ribbon Ridge AVA). & business decisions BY David Furer O regon's wine producers, all small- or mediu m-si ze by a ny standard, have enjoyed remarkable success in establishing themselves in a very short period of time as the "go-to" state for impressive Pinot Noirs, by most accounts the best location for Pinot Gris, a recent uptick in the quality of Chardonnay, the greatest percentage of organic and Biodynamic grapegrowing in the United States, and an ongoing ability to work cooperatively with one another in promoting the bounty they offer. Willamette Valley is justifiably well established as the premier region, yet the most exciting recent developments are coming from Columbia Gorge (with 19 microclimates in a 40-mile span, and whose numerous California ex-patriots saddled with preconceived notions of what type of wines they want to make have influenced the direction as much as the climate) and the southerly Umpqua Valley and Rogue River AVAs. Coming from diverse backgrounds and types of winemaking experience, the six winery owners interviewed have unique stories to share. Abacela Earl Jones came from an academic background having spent 29 years doing biomedical research at the University of California (UC), San Francisco, and other medical schools. Although a native of Detroit, Mich., he grew up in Kentucky after his parents decided to give up urban life for farming. "After that experience as a kid I thought I would never go back to farming," Jones says. But the beginning of corporatization of medicine was welltimed to coincide with a mid-life decision to pursue his passion for Tempranillo by growing and making varietal wine from the grape in the U.S. "My best decision was to have not tried growing grapes where I lived, on the Gulf Coast near Pensacola, Fla. That certainly was not the location for vinifera, but where was the right place to grow Tempranillo in America?" Having spent 10 years in California, Jones knew Tempranillo was grown there; he talked to many people who told him it was not worth growing unless you grew 8 -12 tons per acre in the Central Valley to make bulk wine. UC Davis had studied it for many years before coming to the conclusion that it would not do well in the state. "The California story flew in the face of Rioja," says Jones. "If it can be grown there, then why not somewhere in the U.S.?" Jones went to Spain to learn why they do so well with this grape, focusing upon the quality factors. He discovered that it was grown everywhere in the country, yet only Rioja made it well until the 1980s, when Alejandro Fernandez of Pesquera joined the ranks of Vega Sicilia in making spectacular Tempranillos in the Ribera Del Duero. "The Spanish told me it was the soils and altitude, but Tempranillo was being made well in these regions in many 64 p r acti c al w i ne ry & v i ne yard DECEMBER 20 13 places that had very different soils and elevations. There was something missing from the story." Spanish governmental climate data showed that the better districts had the same short growing season spiked with a torrid, sunny summer, whereas the locations in Spain that made simpler Tempranillo had a warmer and longer growing season like that in the California Central Valley. "Back then I was the only guy screaming that it is the climate, not soils." Climate data gathered from western U.S. airports told Jones that the most similar climates to Spain's Ribera Del Duero after southern Oregon were in Idaho's Snake River Valley and Washington's Walla Walla AVA. It was at that time that Jones' son a University of Virginia stu— dent, now climatologist Greg Jones — became spurred to shift his studies from hydrology to climatology and helped interpret the mounds of data sheets. The oak savannas of the Umpqua Valley drew him. He began building a winery in 1994 and he bought Tempranillo cuttings from California nurseries to plant 4 acres in 1995 (now 28 acres of Tempranillo) outside Roseburg, Ore. In 1998 released the first U.S. varietal Tempranillo to gain international acclaim — especially noteworthy being as it was made by a rank amateur. "So my worst decision was probably to continue self-financing planting trials with other varieties, which is really the university's job. "We have a great vineyard site with 10 clones of Tempranillo and at one time had 24 other grape varieties, as I still cannot resist an interesting experimental trial. Since each clone or variety must be farmed for eight years