Eyrie Vineyards

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David Lett, owner-winemaker at The Eyrie Vineyards in Oregon with a bottle of the 1975 Eyrie Vineyards South Block Reserve--the bottle that put Oregon on the world's pinot noir map.

Eyrie Vineyards consists of 49 acres in several different vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, The vineyards and winery were established by owner and winemaker David Lett (1939- ), who produced the first Pinot Gris in the United States. Against the advice of viticultural professors at the Universtiy of California at Davis (UC Davis), Lett and his wife, Diana, moved to Oregon to plant pinot noir in 1966. Their first vintage was in 1970.

The 1975 Eyrie Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir won first place among Pinot Noirs in blind tasting at the Wine Olympics in 1979.

Burgundy winemaker Robert Drouhin organized a re-match at the Drouhin Cellars in France. The 1975 Eyrie Vineyards Reserve won second place losing to Drouhin's 1959 Chambolle-Musigny. Drouhin later purchased land in Oregon and build Domaine Drouhin Oregon.

Over the years David Lett (known locally as "Papa Pinot") has maintained a light-handed style of pinot noir that has not followed the trend toward greater flavor, tannin, and color extraction. This has put him at odds with some of the wine critics.

The Eyrie Vineyards estate vineyards are now in the Willamette Valley sub AVA known as the Dundee Hills. The winery itself is in McMinnville, Oregon, which annually hosts the International Pinot Noir Celebration each year on the last weekend in July on the campus of Linfield College.