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Hyland Estates
“Petit Estate” pinot NOIR
First planted in 1971 by four families working together (the Kreimeyers, Markleys, Welches, and Trenhailes), the vineyard spans over 200 acres with roughly 185 acres under vine; making it one of Oregon's oldest and largest vineyards.
Sitting on a south facing bench at 600 to 800 feet in the foothills of the Coastal Range in the McMinnville AVA, this site benefits from cooler temperatures in the summer and warmer temperatures in the winter; allowing for a longer and more uniform ripening period. With roughly 185 acres planted on volcanic Jory soil holding similar attributes to the red dirt of the acclaimed Dundee Hills AVA, the old, self-rooted Pommard, Wädenswil, and Coury Pinot Noir vines together with newer plantings in 1989 to Dijon 115, provide a number of blending options from this unique site.
The Hyland Vineyard is now home to plantings of Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, Müller Thurgau and numerous Pinot Noir clones including Wädenswil, Pommard, Dijon 115 and the original Coury plantings from 1971. Such is the quality of the Hyland Vineyard that all four of the aforementioned clones are bottled as single-clone offerings for Hyland Estates.
Spanning ten wines and only five vintages, Hyland Estates has already secured thirty-five 90+ ratings from leading wine publications such as Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. The majority of these wines are available to taste at the Hyland Estates Tasting Room in Dundee, Oregon. The goal of these wines is to showcase the historic clones of Hyland and their place in the top echelon of Oregon wine.
At the 1985 Burgundy Challenge in Paris, Hyland fruit led the way in a blind tasting competition that saw panelists unable to differentiate between Oregon and Burgundian Pinot Noirs.
To the amazement of the wine world, three Oregon wines garnered higher point totals than the Burgundies. These game-changing Pinot Noirs were from Sokol Blosser, Yamhill Valley Vineyards and Veritas and all contained fruit from the Hyland vineyard. Some of the most iconic producers in Willamette Valley source fruit from this vineyard (Domaine Divio and Soléna Estate are heavy hitters such as Résonance, Cristom, Penner-Ash, Antica Terra, Beaux Frères, Nicolas Jay, Double O, and Brooks, to name a few).
Owner and winemaker Laurent Montalieu (who purchased the site in 2007) practices a "land not hand" philosophy. For a vineyard to truly speak, it must be left wild and untamed. Laurent wants to bring you to a specific row amidst hundreds. He wants you to taste a block, the elevation, the growing season and the individual expression of every vine. Quiet and self-sufficient, the vines produce a textually mature, high-concentrated juice that come with decades of establishing oneself firmly into the land.
“We have always believed in making wines that reflect the ground in which they’re rooted. With its self-rooted, unique varietals this historic vineyard offers the ultimate expression of terroir.”
In 1971 the wine industry in the entire Pacific Northwest consisted of (maybe) two dozen wineries, most of which have long since disappeared. Planting a vineyard was, to say the least, a grand adventure. What to plant, where to plant, when to plant and how to plant were open questions. California provided the model, which was all there was to go on, and it turned out to be not very helpful given that conditions further north were not comparable. Washington was considered to be too hot and dry in the summer, too cold in the winter to grow anything but (maybe) a bit of Riesling. Oregon, the experts said, was simply too cold and too wet to grow wine grapes profitably.
Nonetheless a few stubborn pioneers in both states saw better prospects coming, understood that new wineries would provide customers for their grapes, and forged ahead. Hyland vineyard, first planted in 1971 under the guidance of Dick Erath and Charles Coury, was one. Starting with about 15 acres of Pinot Noir, Riesling and Gewürztraminer, the vineyard quickly became an essential provider of grapes to such wineries as Adelsheim, Knudsen-Erath and Sokol Blosser.
— Paul Gregutt, The Northwest Wine Guide
The Growth of A Gentle Giant:
Willamette Valley AVA
Oregon is home to 23 federally recognized grape growing areas, known as American Viticulture Areas or AVAs. The Willamette Valley is one of those 23 AVAs. First established in 1983, it was originally a very large AVA of 3,438,000 acres (5372 square miles), running from Portland in the north to Eugene in the south. Over the decades, as farmers and producers have dedicated themselves to their craftsmanship, the region has been subdivided to represent the variety of soil types and climates within each of the eleven nested AVA.
The McMinnville AVA is contained within the Willamette Valley AVA, sitting in the Coast Range foothills just west of the city of McMinnville, approximately 40 miles (65 km) southwest of Portland. Geologically, the most distinctive feature in this area is the Nestucca Formation, a 2,000-foot (610 m) thick bedrock formation that extends west of the city of McMinnville to the slopes of the Coast Range. This formation is weathered sedimentary and volcanic soil sitting on top of marine bedrock, which affects the region’s ground water composition, forcing vines to struggle and produce complex fruit.
Hyland is unique in the McMinnville due to its uniformity. The foothills of Oregon's Coast Range are charactistically varied. Hyland, on the other hand, is comprised of soley volcanic soil. It's elevation and protection and sandwiched location between two valleys isolated it from geological events. This uniformity is gives the in the ultimate interaction between vine, aspect, and climate.
Compared to surrounding areas, McMinnville is, on average, cooler and drier, consisting of higher elevation vineyards (up to 1,000 feet (305 m)) that are resistant to frost. Vineyards situated on the more southerly facing sites take advantage of the cooling winds from the Van Duzer Corridor, a break in the Coast Range that allows cool Pacific Ocean air to flow through, thus dropping evening temperatures in the region, which helps to keep grapes retain their acidity as they ripen.
100% Pinot Noir from the Hyland Estate Vineyard
vineyard planted in 1971
2022 vintage
McMinnville AVA
Production: 24,000 bottles (2000 cases)
Soils: Volcanic
Winemaking: Hand-harvested, hand-sorted, and 100% destemmed;
Ferments occur in small stainless vessels using a variety of native and cultured yeast. Wine has 18-20 days of skin contact.
Aged 10 months in 25% new French oak before bottling
ABV: 13.5%
PH: 3.77
tasting notes: Abundant aromas of bramble and the subtle essence of smoked oak. Delicate hints of rose petals and lilac dance alongside a touch of white pepper. On the palate, it boasts a graceful yet spirited entrance characterized by silky tannins that caress the senses. The bright burst of fresh red and blue berries contrasts the rich undertones of dark chocolate. The finish is a testament to its depth and complexity, with the oak tannins lending a lasting and robust character to this captivating wine.