Anderson Family Vineyard

Cliff Anderson came to wine through psychology, marketing, and politics. He and Allison moved to Oregon in the early 1970s and planted their first vineyard on Mount Scott in Happy Valley. That taught them how much site selection matters, and by the late 1980s they’d relocated to the Dundee Hills, looking for ground that would force vines to struggle.

They found a basalt landslide — steep slopes, broken rock, exceptional drainage. When they planted it in 1992, it was the steepest vineyard in Oregon and widely considered too steep, too rocky, and too hard to farm.

Rudy Chavez made it work. One of the original Oregon vineyard workers more than forty years ago, he carved the rows and terraces by hand using old-world methods. He’d been vineyard manager at Durant in the 1980s and installed dozens of the famous vineyards along Worden Hill Road. He was introduced to the Andersons by Jack Myers, the pioneer who rediscovered and developed La Butte near Champoeg, probably Oregon’s first Pinot vineyard back in the 1800s. Chavez has managed this vineyard for 32 years and was named Vineyard Manager of the Year for 2024.

Cliff also played a key role in naming the Dundee Hills AVA.

The vineyard runs 16.5 acres at around 430 feet on Jory and Nekia soils, closely spaced, dry-farmed and organic. Five Pinot Noir clones plus Dijon 96 Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. For years most of the fruit went to other producers — August Cellars, Boedecker, Bergström, J.K. Carriere, and Lemelson among them. The Andersons started their own label in 2002 and now make just under 1,000 cases.

Winemaking is old-world: native yeast fermentation, gravity flow, extended barrel aging, and a refusal to release before the wine is ready. There’s an underground barrel room. Recent scores from Decanter and Wine Enthusiast have run 94, 96, and 97 points.

Tastings are private and by appointment, hosted by Cliff and Allison themselves, usually as verticals across multiple vintages with the winemaker’s own notes on the table. There’s a gate passcode you’ll get when you book. The property sits high, with Mount Hood visible on a clear day and cedar buildings among the trees.