Natalie’s Estate Winery

Boyd Teegarden started in wine in 1989, hired into E&J Gallo’s management training program, which gave him a working knowledge of both the business and production sides and moved him around the country. Gallo relocated the couple to Oregon in 1995 to handle supplier relationships, and Boyd and Cassandra watched the industry here start to take off. In 1999 they founded their own winery and named it for their daughter Natalie, who was one at the time.

The hummingbird on the label is the philosophy: be a small producer where the intensity of the wines is the strength. Like the bird, the goal is to harvest the finest nectar.

The estate sits in the Chehalem Mountains AVA between 320 and 420 feet on WillaKenzie sedimentary soil, with about four and a half acres of Pinot Noir in Wädenswil, Pommard, and Dijon 113 and 114 clones. The drive up is lined with old walnut and oak trees. Boyd talks about those trees and the bluebirds that visit the vineyard as readily as he talks about the fruit — his view is that quality wine can’t exist without a real connection to the land and the animals on it.

What sets the list apart is everything that isn’t Pinot. Alongside estate Pinot Noir and Rosé, they make Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Malbec, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and a Meritage, sourcing from Columbia Valley vineyards on both the Oregon and Washington sides. Nearly everything is single-vineyard designate. Winemaking is old-world: neutral barrels, no fining, no filtering. A Sauvignon Blanc joined the range for the 25th anniversary.

The tasting room, built in 2003, has a Montana lodge feel with a fire going much of the year, and a side room most guests never notice — a small museum of Cassandra’s family history in vaudeville and early silent film, with original photographs.

Boyd and Cassandra host personally. Beyond standard tastings there are winemaker receptions, vineyard dinners, barrel tastings, blending classes, helicopter arrivals through Tour DeVine by Heli, and trips they lead to international wine regions.