As I left Giradet Vineyards and Winery the fog began to come
over the mountains like a wave of the ocean and settle in the valleys and the
temperature suddenly dropped. I visited Giradet because they produce a unique
wine, the Boco Noir. My next winery, HillCrest
Vineyard, was also
chosen for their uniqueness – among other things, they are the oldest estate and
continuously running winery in Oregon.
They are also the first to in the state to produce Pinot Noir, which is
increasingly becoming Oregon’s most sought after varietal of wine and they
produce a couple unique wines, a white Pinot Noir and a Hungarian styled blend.
The winery was founded by Richard
Sommers in 1961 with the help
of Adolph Doerner, who’s family first planted wine grapes in the Umpqua Valley
in 1888. Today Sommers is
considered by many to be the father of Oregon winemaking world. When visiting,
you might notice the “BW 44” notation here and there — it’s a reference to the
fact that HillCrest Vineyard was the 44th bonded “alcohol producer” in Oregon
and the first winery bonded after Prohibition. After selecting the estate site, Richard planted over
35 varieties, many of which had never been planted or produced before in
Oregon.
Richard
Sommers
In 2003 Dyson and Susan Demara, along with their three
children Hanna, Parker and Tucker, became the next generation to further
Richard Sommers’ pioneering legacy by continuing to produce premium wines from
the estate with an annual production of around 1400 cases.
HillCrest Vineyards has some unique wine making practices, such as using
patented concrete red wine fermentors and they have the Umpqua Valley’s most
sustainable vineyard practices using the state’s oldest naturally farmed
vineyards. All of this is performed without using any outside the family employees.
So, from planting their own vineyards, to bottling and managing the tasting
room, only their family’s hands touch these wines.
When I arrived nobody was in the tasting
room and I was greeted by two friendly dogs. After hearing them bark Susan Demara came out from their adjacent home to pour
the wines and while she was pouring she was making various arrangements for the
kids over the phone… but THAT is what
it is like visiting a family owned and run winery! Nothing too fancy schmancy,
just real people making real honest wine with mom working as both the household
and tasting room manager. Like, most of the wineries in Southern Oregon that are
really small production (under 3,000 cases) HillCrest
Vineyard is are
family-owned and run rather than being just one of many belonging to a huge
conglomerate. In comparison, most of the larger wineries in the Napa Valley are
no longer owned by the family that founded them as they have been bought out by
multi-winery corporations such as Constellation Brands and Diageo.
Due to the weather conditions and the
temperature of the room tasting the wines evaluating the wines accurately was a
bit of a challenge so didn’t take any extensive notes and I am hesitant to make
any dogmatic conclusions about them.
Tasting a wine in a tasting room can be challenging enough as there are
so many environmental influences that one has to be aware of, but on a really
cold day (around 42 degrees) in a very cold tasting room that was barely heated
the wines are not being shown at their best. So, I look forward to tasting the wines I purchased
again from the comfort of my home.
While most wineries tend to serve their
white wines first, the truth is if they have sufficient acidity a good white
wine will actually cleanse the palate and therefore should be served AFTER
tasting red wines. While visiting I first tasted five red wines and then two
white wines. The red wines were the 2006 Right Bank (St. Emilon inspired
Meritage blend of 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc),
the 2007 Phenom Cabernet Sauvignon
which comes from their “Old Vine” estate vineyard planted in 1964, the 2007
Nonihc Cabernet Franc, the 2008 “Bulls Blood” a Hungarian style blend
(which I bought but is not currently listed on their web site), the 2009 “Le Pig” Barbera (which I also bought but is not currently listed on their web site) followed by the 2009 “Les Charmes” Chardonnay,
and the 2010 Pinot Noir “Inside Out” Blanc. This was the first time I ever
tasted a white wine made from Pinot Noir, it seemed to me to be way too light
and definitely not a winter drinking
wine. Of all these I liked and purchased a bottle of the Barbera and the “Bulls
Blood” because it was unique.
When I arrived at the winery the fog had settled in,
making it near impossible to see from one side of the estate to the other so
taking pictures was a bit of a challenge. So after sampling their wines I drove
up into the surrounding mountains to get a bird’s eye view of the clouds in the
valley below.
To visit or for more information:
Hillcrest
Vineyard
240 Vineyard
Lane
Roseburg, Oregon
97471
Phone:
1-541-673-3709
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