A-Z Wineworks

We have a bargain with other wineries from whom we source wines that we will not reveal their identities; component wines could be from any winery in Oregon from A to Z. In addition, we wanted a name that suggested that our wines are blended from many sources. Even now as we more and more are sourcing grapes as well as wine, we still build our blends to craft balanced wines that aim to be the essence of Oregon rather than reflect a specific single vineyard or A to Z style.

Bergstrom Winery

Our story began in 1997, when John and Karen Bergstrom moved out to Dundee from Portland and purchased 15 acres of land in the Dundee Hills off of Worden Hill Road. The Land is a beautiful South, South-East slope, previously farmed to hazelnuts and black walnuts. We spent two years carefully preparing the earth, sowing and plowing under rich green cover crops that would help revitalize the soils and improve the organic matter before planting the Bergstrom Vineyard in 1999.

This Vineyard would be a testament to our commitment to quality from the very beginning, planted entirely to Pinot Noir with a wide variety of clonal and rootstock selecitons (Pommard, Wadenswil, Dijon 114,115,667,777,828, as well as some unique plant material from Burgundy grafted onto Riparia Gloire, 101-14 and 3309-C rootstocks.) The Bergstrom Vineyard is comprised of 8 different high-density blocks varying from a traditional Burgundian spacing of 3500+ grapevines per acre, to Oregon's more widely accepted cutting edge spacings of 2200-2500 vines per acre.

Bethel Heights Vineyard

Planted between 1977 and 1979, Bethel Heights was one of the first vineyards in the Eola Hills, a chain of hills in the center of Oregon's  Willamette Valley. The estate winery was established in 1984 and currently produces 10,000 cases of wine annually, most of which still comes from the 50 acre estate vineyard. Bethel Heights specializes in Pinot noir, but also produces Chardonnay, Pinot gris and Pinot blanc.

Penner-Ash Wine Cellar

Lynn’s interest in winemaking grew out of an early passion for the sciences. After a summer working for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., she studied Botany at the University of California, Davis, the birthplace of the American wine industry. In her junior year she changed her major to Viticulture. Then, after working the graveyard shift during crush at Domaine Chandon, she changed her degree again, from Viticulture to Enology.

After graduation, Lynn worked as the enologist at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars for four years. She joined the Oregon wine industry in 1988 as winemaker for Rex Hill Winery. Consistently producing award-winning wines, she became Rex Hill’s President and Chief Operating Officer in 1993 and continued on with Rex Hill until March of 2002.

Lynn started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars with husband Ron in 1998, carefully crafting small amounts of Pinot noir and Syrah, while she was still at Rex Hill. Their early success with the label caused them to dream of what they could create, and in 2001, with investment partners Chris and Tyanne Dussin, they began building the Penner-Ash brand full time.

Rex Hill

In the 1920’s, agriculture was booming in the lush Willamette Valley. Prune, pear, apple, walnut and hazelnut orchards quilted the hillsides, and dozens of independent fruit and nut drying facilities rolled in cart after cart of goods to be dried.

Over the years, production grew. Transportation of fresh fruits and vegetables became possible. Agriculture became agribusiness. By the late 1960’s, many of the independent driers in the area had closed their doors. One defunct drier on Rex Hill in Newberg Oregon became home to a pig farm and a commune before it was finally left empty in the late 1970’s.

Paul Hart and his wife Jan Jacobsen came along in 1982 and fell in love with that poor building– but they fell even harder for the hillside on which it sat. It was perfect, they knew, for a new kind of Willamette Valley farm: the vineyard. They cleared out the barn, invited their friends to celebrate, and planted Pinot Noir. Over the next two decades, they added on a little here and a little there and the winery grew along with the vines.

In 2007, when Paul and Jan were ready to retire, they didn’t sell to a big wine conglomerate. They handed the keys to the founders of A to Z Wineworks– another family owned Oregon winery. Bill and Deb Hatcher, Cheryl Francis, and Sam Tannahill took over as stewards of this phenomenal piece of Oregon.

The legacy of the land is alive at Rex Hill. You can see the original tunnels into which the carts of drying racks were rolled, but you’ll also see the new tools of the trade: French oak and stainless steel barrels, wine presses, in-house laboratory and bottling line, temperature controlled fermentation and blending tanks, a state of the art cross-flow filter. As we tend to the existing farm, we have put down a few roots of our own– alongside the original fruit and nut drier sits a new energy-efficient building to house us as we continue to grow. Here’s to the rebirth of the Oregon family farm

 Scott Paul

We believe that Pinot Noir is a wine of elegance and finesse, rather than one of power and extraction. We believe that Pinot Noir is the most complex, aromatic, perfumed, subtle, and sensuous wine on the planet. We believe in doing everything possible in the vineyards and the winery to capture that elegance and finesse, and all the inherent sensual qualities.

In the vineyard, this means painstaking attention to detail. We believe in low yields, leaf-pulling, green-harvesting, hedging, plowing, composting, and in entering into a close relationship with each vine.

In the winery, this means having the courage to do nothing. Grapes and must are moved only by gravity. Fermentation is conducted only by wild, indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation is allowed to occur naturally. The Burgundian techniques of Pigeage (punch-down) and Remontage (pump-over) are used as means of gentle extraction.

French Oak barrels (less than 20% new) are used to age the wines - to let them breathe and mature, not to impart artificial flavors or aromas. The wines are bottled un-fined and un-filtered, and should continue to gain depth and complexity over many years in the bottle.

Shea Wine Cellars

The 200-acre vineyard property lies at the heart of Oregon's Yamhill-Carlton District and supplies fruit to some of Oregon's and California's finest wineries.

Solena Cellars

After successful careers in the Oregon wine industry, Laurent Montalieu and Danielle Andrus Montalieu have come together to create an exciting new family operated winery, Soléna Cellars. Soléna, the combination of two names that signify the sun and the moon, is the name that Laurent and Danielle, gave to their daughter

Soléna Cellars was first created as a way to explore winemaking with other varietals grown in the surrounding appellations while our Willamette Valley estate was planted in Pinot Noir. Today we are producing Pinot Noir from our estate vineyard Domaine Danielle Laurent in Yamhill, OR as well as Pinot Gris, Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from select vineyard sites in Oregon and Washington. Soléna Cellars first opened our doors in Carlton, Oregon in May of 2002. We hope you enjoy our wines as you celebrate life with family and friends.

William Hatcher Wines:

The fruit reveals the wine to the winemaker. Accordingly, the winemaker shepherds the wine rather than makes it. Notably, there is no word for "winemaker" in French, Italian or Spanish: one is vigneron, viticoltore or vinicultor, the idea being that the wine is made in the vineyard. In a given vintage, the optimal blend may comprise only half or so of the barrels I make. As with preparation of a fine meal, it is a question of what precisely informs the whole. Too much of the finest ingredient may overwhelm the balance. Thus, Rex Hill and A to Z are always blessed with some beautiful barrels.

The 2005 greets the nose with suggestions of dried cherries and plums, leathery notes, vanilla and pencil. The palate is redolent of converves - plum, cane berries, cranberry - with a silky texture that finishes long on fine tannins. With its firm acidic backbone, the wine will continue to develop and please for 10 to 15 years.

Witness Tree

Witness Tree Vineyard is a small producer of premium quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made entirely from grapes grown on our 100-acre estate. As winegrowers, we believe that only by tending our own vines can we produce the finest wines. Low yields in the vineyard and minimal handling in the winery allow us to create wines of depth, elegance, concentration, and character. They are the ultimate expression of the earth from which they were born.