Willamette Valley Vineyards
The hills of the Willamette Valley tell a story of change and uplift and cataclysm, basalt flows and historic flooding events including the Missoula Floods. Nicolas-Jay is proud to source fruit from vineyards representing the breadth of geologic diversity and mesoclimates the valley contains. Bishop Creek is located on the ancient marine sedimentary soils of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. We farm the old vines at Bishop Creek using no-till organic farming techniques. At our Dundee Hills Estate, we’ve recently planted Pinot Noir on the deep volcanic soils found here. We also source dry-farmed, organic and biodynamic fruit from the best vineyards in the North Willamette Valley for single vineyard and cuvée bottlings.
Our Vineyards
We work with the highest quality fruit from our own organically-farmed Bishop Creek and from esteemed vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley wine region, including Nysa, Momtazi, and Knight’s Gambit, among others.
The Willamette Valley is, like Burgundy, shaped by prehistory. Our hillsides are records of events that occurred before feet trod our soils, and a vineyard walk can be a look into deep geologic time. Our present-day climate is itself an extension of this history, as two mountain ranges, the volcanic Cascade Range and the sedimentary Coast Range, delimit and define the growing season of this valley.
Our oldest soils lifted with the Oregon Coast Range 20 million years ago, sediments of ancient rivers, fossil-rich marine shelves thrust skyward as tectonic plates converged. Ancient basalt, once ocean floor, erratically protrudes from this sedimentary soil across the Coast Range’s mountainous landscape. A different, more cataclysmic volcanic history followed, as the Columbia River Basalt Flows inundated the nascent Willamette Valley with super-hot, mafic lava – liquid rock which crested many of our eastern hillsides. As this basalt cooled and weather, Oregon was given the red, loamy Jory soils that are so strongly associated with our Pinot Noir.
The vineyards of the north Willamette Valley also benefit from their macro- and meso-climates, and our surrounding mountain ranges both shelter and selectively expose vineyard slopes. We are protected from the harshest of winter temperatures by the towering Cascade Range, which provides a rain shadow for comparatively arid Eastern Oregon, and rings out more than 50 inches of precipitation a year for Western Oregon’s intermontane valleys. Oregon’s Coast Range is smaller, but arguably more important for Willamette Valley viticulture, as their 3000ft peaks shelter our valley from Pacific marine layer, and facilitate sunny, dry growing conditions. At low-elevation passes through these deep, forested mountains, the ineluctable Pacific climate pushes toward our valley – its presence can be felt on summer evenings, as cold, powerful winds rush down vine rows to the valley floor.
Each vineyard we work with has a unique place in this interplay of geology and climate. Our aim is to produce transparent wines, which reveal not only the craft of winemaking honed in Burgundy, but the ancient hillsides that produced these grapes.
Nicolas-Jay Estate Vineyard
The first vineyards to be planted in the Dundee Hills AVA were perched on the southern and eastern slopes to capture sunlight. On northern- and western-facing slopes, one finds fewer vineyards, with denser stands of Douglas-fir and western hemlock, and the typical flora of the Oregon Coast Range forest floor: sword fern and vine maple, salal and chanterelle mushroom. Small family farms share the hillsides with riparian forests in these quiet corners of the Dundee Hills.
Nicolas-Jay is proud to steward 53 acres in a secluded dale on the north slopes of the region, facing the Chehalem Mountains. The natural amphitheater of our vineyard is surrounded by ridges of Douglas-fir and Oregon white oak which we preserve as a habitat for local wildlife. The 25 plantable acres face east, resting on deep Jory soil. Jory is the Oregon state soil, a volcanic colluvium which the Dundee Hills AVA is famous for and is credited with providing the characteristic delicacy of Pinot Noir grown here. As with our Bishop Creek Vineyard, we practice no-till agriculture to encourage and nourish the mycorrhizal network, increase water retention and mitigate erosion. A pollinator garden and orchard will accompany our vines, and we hope the sense of undisturbed beauty and wildness that defines this place will grace its wines.
Bishop Creek Vineyard
Bishop Creek Vineyard is found on a south-facing slope in the northern reaches of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The vineyard was first planted to ungrafted rootstock in 1988 in tight 5×5 rows of three Pinot Noir clones (Pommard, Wädenswil, 777). The upper bench of the property features high-elevation Chardonnay clones 76, 95, and 548, with rootstock dating to the late 1990s. Dramatic elevation changes, rugged conditions and a low water table has pushed the root systems to grow deep into the porous and nutrient poor marine sedimentary soils. Soils here date to the Eocene era, when the continent abruptly lifted from the sea around 43-46 million years ago. Nicolas-Jay was proud to acquire Bishop Creek Vineyard in 2014, after Jay and Jean-Nicolas fell in love with wines produced from this fruit.
Explore Bishop Creek Vineyard with the interactive map below
Momtazi Vineyard
In 1997, Mo and Flora Momtazi purchased a 500-acre wheat farm in the hills of what is now the McMinnville AVA. The AVA is in the foothills of the Coast Range, and is notable for its small percentage of planted acres, giving the AVA a remote, secluded charm. Mo and Flora began converting a portion of their property to Biodynamically farmed Pinot Noir, and today their vineyard is one of the premier sites in Oregon.
The vineyard contains a diversity of soils and microclimates, with a mixture of volcanic and marine sedimentary soils, along with some alluvium from the Missoula Floods. The Van Duzer corridor allows cool coastal air to enter the valley through the Oregon Coast Range, and brings persistent winds, cooling the vines at night. Nicolas-Jay’s block of Pinot Noir lies near the top of the vineyard, at an elevation of 740 feet, with a north-south row orientation and 5’ x 7’ spacing. Coupled with cool evenings and persistent winds, the high elevation causes the grapes to ripen slowly, developing a striking combination of concentration, restraint, and earth-driven characteristics.
Nysa Vineyard
Nysa Vineyard was planted in 1990 by Michael Mega, and sits at an elevation of 600-700 feet in the Dundee Hills AVA. The 40-acre vineyard is recognized as a premier source for some of Oregon’s most exciting Pinot Noir. Nicolas-Jay’s grapes come from a coveted block of own-rooted Pommard clone vines that were some of the original plantings. These tightly spaced vines grow in Jory volcanic soils with an underlying layer of basalt bedrock that helps allow the vines to be dry farmed. The resulting wine from this old-vine Dundee Hills site is fragrant, elegant and enticing, with concentrated red fruit, strawberry and candied cherry. The high elevation contributes a backbone of acidity and fine-grained tannin.
Temperance Hill Vineyard
Temperance Hill Vineyard is one of the oldest sites planted in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. The Eola-Amity Hills rise over 1000 feet above the Willamette Valley, and their renowned high-elevation vineyards face the Cascade Range, receiving the same cool oceanic winds that affect the Momtazi Vineyard to the west. Temperance Hill is one of the most desirable sites in the AVA, producing fine, aromatically complex, and highly distinctive wines.
L’ Ensemble
Beyond Nicolas-Jay’s three vineyard-designated wines, we are proud to work with passionate and exacting farmers across the Willamette Valley to source exceptional Pinot Noir for our L’Ensemble cuvée. This wine reflects the character of a single vintage across a growing season, and is the product of meticulous blending and barrel selection. As such, the blend will change from year to year, as we seek to produce a balanced and expressive representation of the Willamette Valley. Each of the vineyards that appear in this blend can stand alone (indeed Bishop Creek, Nysa, and Momtazi fruit frequently appear in the blend) however L’Ensemble provides us the exciting opportunity to present our winemaking philosophy, from vineyard to cellar, and achieve a panoptic view of the Willamette Valley across a given vintage.