Autumn Vineyard (© Rachell Coe | Dreamstime.com)

Oregonians are known to be wine lovers and the state’s wineries are giving them and wine drinkers everywhere plenty of fine wine to love. Those wineries are highly regarded for their Pinot Noirs, a grape variety that is difficult to cultivate, but when in the right hands it produces some of the finest wines in the world.

Winetasters John Brecher and Dottie Gaiter of the Wall Street Journal have just taken a taste of the state of Oregon’s Pinot Noirs and they were not disappointed. The article recalls that just three years ago they “cautioned that many good Oregon Pinots were very hard to find and that most were pricey.” Thankfully, that is no longer the case. There are now about 400 wineries and 17,000 acres of vineyards in Oregon.

It’s not just the amount of wine the state is producing that impresses. The tasters for the Journal have “been fascinated with the growth, not just in size but in quality.” The writers offer that high praise after a decade of sampling and their recent research was impressively thorough. The two tasters note that there are now good Oregon Pinots for $20 or less and for this article they bought 50 bottles after setting a price limit of $60.

The article is accompanied by a listing of eight favorites, “The Dow Jones Oregon Pinot Noir Index.” Most are from wineries in the Willamette Valley, but there’s one from the Rogue Valley as well. They write, “These are great with all kinds of food, from roast chicken to lamb, and would be a lovely accompaniment to your Thanksgiving dinner.”

How much will a good bottle of Oregon Pinot set you back? Good news, two of the picks were priced at less than $20 a bottle and there was one at $29.99.

If you’d like to read the Wall Street Journal article cited above go to: The State of Oregon Pinot

To learn more about Oregon's fine wines & exploring the state's beautiful wine country go to: Oregon Wine Center