Speaking sparkling: New event celebrates growing production, recognition of Oregon bubbles
The Method Oregon Grand Tasting took its name from the traditional “Méthode Champenoise” process used in the Champagne region of France — the namesake of the most well-known type of sparkling wine.
The Method Oregon process is not yet as defined as that used in France, but is attracting a growing number of fans. Like the still wines made in Yamhill County and other parts of the state, sparkling Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from Oregon wineries are winning awards and earning recognition throughout the U.S., and in other countries, too.
The conference at Domaine Willamette attracted several hundred people for a day of learning about, discussing and sampling sparkling wines. Winemakers from 22 local wineries such as Corollary, Ponzi and Argyle — the latter a pioneer in Oregon sparkling wine production — poured bubbles at a luncheon and an afternoon wine tasting event.
Dozens of people, including winemakers and nationally known wine writers, attended the Method Oregon opening panel discussion. They listened to, and asked questions of, Argyle founder Rollin Soles, winemaker and Radiant Sparkling Wine company founder Andrew Davis, and Kate Payne Brown, who now makes wines at Argyle.
As the panelists prepared to begin, they filled their glasses. “Pop!” went a cork, and audience members giggled appreciatively. “Love that sound!” one called out.
Though the crowd primarily spoke English, French wine terms rolled off participants’ tongues, as well. These bubble lovers chatted about dosage (adding sugar), remuage (removing spent yeast) and dégorgement (removing sediment) along with other steps in the traditional French process.
One thing was clear: although making traditional sparkling wine is time consuming and results in higher-priced bottles, conference speakers and attendees alike say it is worthwhile. They consider it far superior to inexpensive varieties in which carbonation or another additive creates the bubbles.
Wine writer and educator Julia Coney, who moderated the panel, said Oregon has the right climate, soils and “perfect growing conditions” for wine grapes — and panelists agreed.
Introducing Soles, one of the first to make sparkling wine here, Coney noted, “Sparkling seems like an overnight sensation here, but really it’s been 40 years in the making.”
Soles said Western Oregon’s “cool marine climate” as well as the length of daylight at the 45th parallel make it a perfect location for the varieties of grapes used in sparkling wine.
In these conditions, he said, the grapes bloom and are harvested later, which contributes to their flavor. “No other sparkling place picks in the last week of October,” he said.
He said he moved to Yamhill County because of his roommate at the University of California-Davis, Rich Cushman, who would go on to create sparkling wine at Chateau Benoit.
“He dragged me up here, and this place struck me right through the heart,” he said.
Davis learned a great deal from Soles when he became a winemaker at Argyle. He discovered sparkling wine is “a challenge … that takes technical expertise.”
It also takes a lot of specialized equipment. “Radiant was inevitable,” Davis said, referring to the company he founded to obtain that equipment and make it available to other Oregon winemakers.
Radiant Sparking Wine Company now handles some of the traditional processing for about half the state’s sparkling wine producers. It helped “double the size of the sparkling wine industry in Oregon,” said Davis, who sold the company to Vinovate Custom Wine Services in May and now is back making wine, this time for Lytle-Barnett.
Despite the recent expansion in production, Davis said, “Oregon is still a drop in the bucket” compared to the amount of sparkling wine made in California, other parts of the country and places such as France.
“It’s a little diamond,” though, he said, in terms of quality and unique characteristics that tell the story of Oregon.
Each sparkling wine produced in the state has its own features, he said.
“We’re never going to see a convergence of styles here so all will taste the same,” he said. “All have the acidity and the fruitfulness, but the styles are diverse and exciting. That says Oregon.”
Payne Brown, who made wine at several places before joining Argyle, said Oregon vineyards originally were thought to be good only for grapes used in still wines.
The cooler, higher elevation sections are actually perfect for sparkling, she said. And “now we have vineyards designed just for sparking,” she said.
At first, she said, vintners assumed all vineyards needed to feature south-facing rows. Now, with the warming climate, she said, grapes also do well in east-facing or even north-facing rows.
And growers are planting at higher elevations than before. Payne Brown recalled Knudsen Vineyards in the Dundee Hills planting at 1,000 feet, “a bold decision” that turned out to be a good one.
She cited “the gift of time” grapes remain on the vine and the air flow through the vineyards as contributors to “growing fruit with backbone acidity that will hold up” during the winemaking process.
Then the traditional process, controlled by winemakers, works its magic. Payne Brown marveled at the different dosage makes, when the winemaker chooses just the right still wine to add to balance that core acidity.
She said she often tries several still wines. Some may do nothing to improve the sparkling brew, but then she discovers one that lifts it to extraordinary status.
And when that happens, everyone wants to raise a glass.
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