Penner-Ash Wine Cellars

Lynn Penner-Ash graduated from UC Davis and worked at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Domaine Chandon in Napa before Paul Hart of Rex Hill called and asked her to come look at Oregon. She and Ron had been married two days. She flew up, took the job that afternoon, and moved north in 1988. Her reasoning was blunt: as a young woman she could make an impact on a region that wasn’t established yet, rather than beating her head against a ceiling in Napa.

That made her Oregon’s first female head winemaker. She stayed at Rex Hill through 2001, rising to president and COO.

In 1998, with Hart’s blessing and access to Rex Hill’s fruit sources, she and Ron started a small side project — they expected maybe a couple hundred cases. It became Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, and it grew fast enough that Lynn left Rex Hill to run it full time. Ron had taught school for twenty years before joining her.

They found this land by word of mouth. Andy Gallagher of Red Hill Soils had just dug a soil pit on the property and told them to come look. The geological survey turned up unexpected soil diversity, which was the deciding factor. They broke ground in 2003 and processed their first on-site vintage in 2005, designing the winery around ergonomics as much as gravity flow — space, light, and equipment arranged so the people working in it wouldn’t be broken by it.

Production went from 125 cases to roughly 15,000. Jackson Family Wines acquired the winery in 2016; Lynn stayed on as founding winemaker until retiring in 2022. Kate Ayres makes the wine now.

The estate is built around the 15-acre Dussin Vineyard, LIVE certified, with fruit also coming from Shea, Bramble Hill, Zena Crown, Knudsen, and Hyland — six sub-AVAs in total. Every lot is fermented separately with indigenous yeast and extended cold soaks. Beyond Pinot Noir there’s Syrah, Viognier, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc, which is an unusual range for a producer at this level here.

The tasting room sits high on Ribbon Ridge with what’s widely considered one of the best views in the valley.