It is difficult to distill 15 days on the road into a couple of blog posts. . .I wish I could boil down the essence in the way Carpe Vino’s Chef Alexander so deftly and effortless creates a cabernet reduction. The issue is I met so many people, visited so many wineries and tasted so many wines that it is a challenge to keep everything straight. . .to simply maintain context.

I explored two wine regions: first the Willamette Valley in Oregon, mostly the northern AVAs, interrupted by three days in Portland before hugging the Columbia River all the way to Walla Walla, Washington (a place so nice, they named it twice) where I toured for two days. Each night on the road I slept in my vintage Airstream trailer, parked at either wineries or in campgrounds.

The impetus for this odyssey was an invitation to attend the 2011 Oregon Pinot Camp, a three-day, trade-only, intensive program that is one of the toughest tickets in the wine biz, a fact that eluded me until I talked with other attendees.

For the past eleven years, Willamette Valley wineries have partnered to stage this program, which spans three days packed with seminars, tastings and dinners at wineries and venues across the valley. OPC handles all costs except transportation to the valley and lodging. Buses haul campers to various venues, and all meals, wine and materials are provided.

I can only imagine how much it costs to produce this affair—certainly at least $200k, probably a lot more since paid staff works on the event year ‘round. In my opinion, it is a brilliant strategy and far more cost effective than trying to mount a mass-media, consumer-aimed campaign to publicize the virtues of this singular wine making powerhouse. Each year, OPC brings in carefully selected buyers who are educated, wined and dined. . .and converted into evangelists for Oregon wines. On average, 270 wine professionals go home with a truly warm and fuzzy feeling about this very special wine community. Over the life of the program, that means there are close to 3,000 Oregon apostles roaming the world.

What was so refreshing to me was to observe how closely the wineries worked together to mount this huge endeavor. Though no doubt there is natural competition in the local industry, the winery owners subjugate such instincts and work harmoniously. They actually seem to truly like each other; they get along so well—especially in group presentations—that you’re tempted to doubt the reality of it.

Here’s an example of how unified this community can be: During a welcome from OPC President Janie Brooks Heuck of Brooks Winery, she explained how she got her unconventional start in the industry—a route unlike any of which I had ever heard. 

Her brother, Jimi, worked as a winemaker for several brands in Willamette before launching his own modest venture, Brooks Winery, in 1998. In 2004, just before the start of crush, the unthinkable happened. Jimi was struck down suddenly by an aneurism and passed away at just 38, leaving an eight-year-old son. His sister, Janie—now managing director of the winery—stepped in to fill the breach but trained as a CPA, she had very limited wine experience.

That’s when the Willamette wine community stepped up. About a dozen winemakers—many who had previously worked with Jimi—offered to handle crush and make the wine. And they did, refusing any form of compensation.

This act of selflessness and generosity provided the cushion for Janie to learn the business and carry on for her brother until his son—who actually owns the winery—is able to join the family business. In fact, many of the people who had helped during this critical time shared the stage with Janie. It was a remarkable moment, and the bond amongst this group of people was purely magnetic.

Pinot Camp is Much More than Pinot

While attendees to OPC enjoyed an ocean of fine pinot noir and wonderful evening meals, the core of the experience was to get up to speed on Willamette Valley, its history, terrior, wines and all of the tangible factors that make it unique. The organizers skillfully hit home with these core takeaways:

Oregon wines are great candidates for aging. While upwards of 80% of all wine purchased in the U.S. is consumed within 48 hours, a key message at OPC is that Oregon wines only improve with age—both pinots and a range of whites. To make this point, one of the main seminars presented a series of tastings of six-wine groupings that contrasted new vintages against older. The results were obvious for pinot, though I was not as convinced about white wines. . .especially a 1987 pinot gris that was likely over the hill 15 years ago. We were also served older vintages each night at our evening galas, poured from magnums and three-liter bottles. There was so much wine available it was staggering. . .and saddening on one level: I wish I could have had the time to savor these wines individually and leisurely.

Oregon is much more than pinot noir. The cool climate of Willamette (rhymes with “Damn It”) is basically hospitable to only pinot noir cultivation among reds (though other varietals are being introduced), but it is also welcoming to a number of white varietals, which comprise 27% of all grapes grown in the state. Most notable are pinot gris (translates to “gray”), Riesling and chardonnay (which account for 86% of all white grapes grown). As one seminar presenter noted, the region’s cool climate lends itself to producing food-friendly wines that have great balance, optimum acidity and low ph that all combine to help render the wines age worthy.

What’s the hot ticket in Oregon whites? One presenter said, “In my opinion, Riesling is the pinot noir of white wines.” No doubt he is absolutely correct.

The significance of soil. If you toil long enough as a wine retailer, rants about terrior and the impact of place on winemaking are enough to make your head spin like Linda Blair’s in the Exorcist. But oddly enough, I really dug a seminar titled “Soil into Wine” (pun intended). That’s because we were bussed out to the Penner-Ash Winery where campers were invited to walk through two huge trenches cut on the edges of two vineyard blocks to observe the different types of soil. . .which render huge differences in how pinot noir tastes. We were regaled with the origins of Willamette Valley soil types: marine sediments, basalts, Ice Age Loess and Missoula Flood deposits. By walking through the trenches, the various soil layers told the story. It was a fascinating and revealing field trip, further developed through graphics in a comprehensive manual we were given. In a tasting in the winery, the differences of soil type in wines were obvious and consistent across different brands. Absolutely revealing and amazing.

Uncovering the multiple personalities of pinot. At the end of the day, when you distill Willamette Valley to its very core, you get pinot noir every time. Unlike California where very virtually every varietal flourishes, pinot is it in Willamette, which begs the question: Is there an Oregonian style of pinot noir? The answer for me, was both yes and no. Yes, there is a balance, elegance and complexity that runs true to most all Oregon pinot noir, but the end product varies dramatically based on so many factors associated with terrior, vintage and winemaking style. In one tasting of six wines, we were asked to match three vintages from three different winemakers to see which was more compelling. . .vintage or winemaker? The results were not conclusive. . .leading us to be convinced of what we all know: when you let the grapes do the talking, every vintage is going to be different.

One of the most important OPC takeaways for me was the winemakers of Willamette Valley are an affable, articulate and smart group of people. Virtually everyone who participated during a seminar or as part of a panel was well spoken and knowledgeable. . .leading me to believe they could be successful in any endeavor, though their passion for winemaking was obviously inflexible.

The total experience was a joy and one that I will remember for a long time, especially the last day at Domaine Serene, where after a tour and tasting (along with representatives from King Estate), we sat down to a beautiful lunch as a prelude to a helicopter tour of the valley.

There was a low ceiling and rain threatened but we went up in chopper with a 23-year-old pilot at the controls. What a blast!

I have but one suggestion for OPC organizers: My main purpose in attending—beyond learning more about the region and its wines—was to actually discover new wines from wineries unknown to us at Carpe Vino. I wanted to return home with a list of new wines to bring into the shop. Unfortunately, that simply did not happen. With all of the wines we tasted, there was very limited information provided about pricing, case production and distribution. Also, because OPC was trying to demonstrate the age worthiness of Oregon wines, many of the wines we tasted were library wines and not available for purchase. OPC is devoid of sales messaging—which is wonderful—but for those campers who do wish to acquire wines, a baseline of solid information should be available during each session. The good news is I spent three additional days int he Valley and found tons of good stuff that we’ll be bringing into the shop.

I heard that campers have to wait four years before requesting to participate in OPC again. I’ve put OPC 2015 in my tickler file because I’d love to do it again someday.