WEST LINN, Ore. — It is harvest season in the Willamette Valley, and people are working hard to pick the grapes that'll produce a vintage winemakers hope will be an impressive one.
One patch is trying to carve out its own identity within the Willamette Valley. Winemakers and winery owners are hoping to designate the area of Pete’s Mountain in West Linn as its own American Viticulture Area (AVA).
Wine enthusiasts who head to Pete’s Mountain will find half a dozen wineries up and down its winding roads. Three of the wineries are within a five-minute drive of one another: Pete’s Mountain Vineyard and Winery, Campbell Lane Winery and Tumwater Vineyard.
Laurent Montalieu, a winemaker at Pete’s Mountain and Tumwater, said the fruit and minerality are different on Pete’s Mountain, and chardonnay could grow into the area’s most renowned varietals.
“In 50 years if we meet again, we might consider this area to be making the best chardonnay in the world. We will see,” said Montalieu.
Pickers spent Monday morning clipping chardonnay and pinot noir from Pete’s Mountain Vineyard, the largest winery in the area. They ran with their buckets to fill the bins, which were transported for processing.
Pete’s Mountain Winery owner, Mike Thayer, said there are several reasons the mountain deserves a more formal distinction.
“The elevation, the basalt mountain, the soil, that's unique. It's not just a single soil; that’s all-sandy loam volcanic soil,” said Thayer.
He and his wife Kristy incorporated their business in 1998. Their expansive vineyard stretches out above the Willamette River and Mount Hood in the distance.
They see the potential but realize it will take a lot of work and collaboration before the area is even eligible to apply to be designated an official AVA.
Until then, they are showing off their newest label for a wine called "Rock and Soil." It’s pinot noir from a vineyard owned by Mike Thayer’s brother, Tommy Thayer — a guitarist in the band KISS who's begun his own foray into the wine industry.