Patricia Green Cellars

Patty Green made her first wine at seventeen, fermenting fruit in glass carboys in her closet without telling her family. Before wine she worked forestry in Oregon and commercial fishing off Baja. She picked grapes at Hillcrest in southern Oregon in 1986, worked harvests for David Adelsheim in the early nineties, and in 1993 became the first winemaker at Torii Mor, where she met Jim Anderson.

They built Torii Mor together over seven years, then walked away. Looking for a warehouse to convert, they got an unexpected offer: the owners of Autumn Wind Winery had heard they were searching and asked whether they’d buy them out quietly. Papers were signed in July 2000, and Patricia Green Cellars began with a cellar, equipment, and a 22-acre vineyard on what would later be designated the Ribbon Ridge AVA.

The 52-acre estate now holds about 30 acres of vines. The earliest plantings date to 1984, making it the second-oldest vineyard in Ribbon Ridge, and the site carries the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines in the Willamette Valley.

The winery’s premise was that Oregon had great vineyards capable of uniquely excellent wine if someone committed to the farming and winemaking required. That turned into something larger: assembling the largest collection of historic Oregon vineyard sites ever brought under one label, investing in and keeping alive the heritage sites the region was built on. The barrel room is called the Heritage Vineyard Room for that reason.

Production runs 10,000 to 12,000 cases, 90 to 95 percent Pinot Noir, across twenty or more single-vineyard and single-block designates — more individual Pinot bottlings than any winery in America. Nothing is irrigated, and the estate went fully organic around 2014.

Since 2000, more Patricia Green Cellars wines have scored 90 or above than any other Oregon winery. The 2016 Bonshaw Block took 100 points from Wine Enthusiast, the first perfect score for a Willamette Valley wine.