Ayoub Winery

Mohammad “Mo” Ayoub came to the United States from Lebanon and built a career as an engineer. In 2001 he bought four acres in the Dundee Hills that had never been planted, and put vines in the ground. For years he commuted between Silicon Valley and the vineyard while working his day job.

The early going was hard. He started building a winery in the garage of the small house on the property and ran $60,000 short, so he stopped rather than take on more debt and had the wine made at a custom crush facility instead. He finally completed the winery in 2011.

The first bottling came from the 2004 vintage and was released in 2006. Josh Bergström made those early wines, until his family decided to make only their own at their winery. Robert Brittan — sixteen years at Stags’ Leap in Napa before returning to Oregon — has been consulting winemaker since, and the results have been consistently exceptional.

The estate is four acres, densely planted, farmed by hand using organic methods, on some of the most prized ground in the Dundee Hills. Starting in 2009 Mo added fruit from other top sites: Thistle and Winderlea in the Dundee Hills, Meredith Mitchell and Brittan in McMinnville. There’s also a bottling labeled “??? Vineyards,” from an estate site belonging to a famous Dundee Hills winery that prefers not to be named. Production stays under 2,000 cases, with individual wines running 135 to 440 cases.

The pricing is the part that surprises people. Wine Spectator noted that Ayoub’s Pinots sit at $48 to $60 while the Oregon average for wines scoring in the same range is $65. His explanation is simple: he believes he has to earn it.

Memoirs is the wine people talk about — a tribute to relatives who have passed, with a different family photograph on each vintage. The 2021 label is a picture taken on a Lebanese beach in 1964.

Tastings are hosted by Mo. He’s blunt, funny, and self-critical, and guests describe the visit as one of the most memorable in the valley.