Lenné Estate

Steve Lutz spent eight months looking for a vineyard site. In April 2000 he climbed a steep hill outside Yamhill, negotiated for an hour, and bought it. The soil was Peavine — gravelly, low in organic matter, more rock than dirt, and rated the worst agricultural soil in Yamhill County. That was the point. Poor soils make great wine, and this was as bad as it gets.

Lutz had come out of the corporate world, then Napa, working for the Mondavi group, Bill Harlan, and others, before running hospitality at Chateau Benoit in Carlton, now Anne Amie. He named the vineyard for his father-in-law Len, a chicken farmer outside London who contributed part of the down payment and died in 1999.

The site nearly killed him. He planted the first blocks in 2001, dry-farmed from the start. Thirty-five percent of the vines died in year one. Another 2.5-acre Pommard block was lost to the 2003 heat. He burned out a tractor clutch trying to hand-water the slope. He made 200 cases in 2004, and the vineyard didn’t yield properly until 2008.

Twenty acres, roughly 15.5 planted, on a south-facing slope between 420 and 605 feet. Five Pinot Noir clones — Pommard, 114, 115, 667, 777 — plus Chardonnay added since 2016. Vines push roots down about a foot a year through that rock. Yields are among the lowest in the region and the wines carry a signature that regulars talk about constantly: black fruit, mocha, chocolate, and a mid-palate texture you don’t find elsewhere in Yamhill-Carlton.

Steve and Karen Lutz sold the property in late 2022 and the brand in early 2023 to Jory LLC, a partnership between Eugene Labunsky, a longtime Lenné wine club member, and Jared Etzel, son of Mike Etzel of Beaux Frères and co-founder of Rodeo Hills. Eric Bruce, the longtime tasting room manager, stayed on as general manager.

The tasting space reopened in April 2025 after a substantial renovation, with new grounds, patio, and views in every direction. Guided vineyard tours run in summer, walking through elevation, orientation, soil, trellising, dry farming, and pruning while tasting along the way. There’s a commercial kitchen, an outdoor grill and pizza oven, and space for groups of ten to a hundred.