Poised atop the Dundee Hills, with gentle slopes that capture the breezes and sunshine, this 235-acre estate overlooking the Willamette Valley produces some of the finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay fruit in the world. Robert Drouhin’s vision of an Oregon estate winery that could rival the great vineyards of Burgundy has been realized here.  From what began as test plantings of cloned Pinot Noir rootstock, Domaine Drouhin now encompasses 130 acres of hillside vineyards. Interspersed with the Pinot Noir vines are 13 acres of Chardonnay, planted at various elevations and, like in Burgundy, planted right alongside rows of Pinot Noir.

They have two large blocks of rootstock planted on the estate that they’ve learned are well suited to the specifics of their vineyard sites in terms of site elevation, soil depth, and moisture-holding capacity. Their densely planted vines are farmed sustainably, L.I.V.E. certified, and tended to by hand when leaves and fruit are thinned.

Once the grapes have reached full maturity with a perfect balance between brix and acid, and fruit and tannin, they are hand-picked. Active fermentations last 7-12 days and once complete, the free-run juice is moved via gravity to the barrel cellar. Once the secondary, malolactic, fermentation is complete, the wines are racked off their lees via gravity and back into barrel. After 12-14 months in oak, Véronique selects barrels for each of their three cuvées and the wines are then blended and allowed to rest for several months before moving to the final level of the winery, our bottle room. At this final stage, the wines again are moved via gravity into bottle and then allowed to mature 6 to 18 months before release.