Blakeslee Vineyard Estate

The estate grew filberts and Christmas trees through the seventies and eighties before being converted to Pinot Noir in the late nineties. Under the name Quail Hill Vineyard, it produced fruit that made history: in 1998, winemaker Patricia Green of Torii Mor was recognized by Wine Spectator for Oregon’s first $100 bottle of Pinot Noir, made from this site.

Bill and Sheila Blakeslee bought the 20-acre property in 2005 with the intention of farming it and selling fruit. Bill is a Portland native who founded Bilet Products in 1973, a Sherwood company supplying specialty pallets and skids nationally, and ran it for close to 45 years before retiring. They moved from Tualatin and built a new residence on the property — designed from the outset to double as an event space, with a high-ceilinged covered patio and eight-foot glass doors that accordion open in good weather. They call it The Pavilion.

Their first vintage in 2006 was an accident, the result of a trade with another winery: fruit for bottled wine. It went well enough that they kept going.

Fifteen planted acres, first put in the ground in 1997, sit between 500 and 550 feet on Laurelwood topsoil over hard clay — ten acres of Dijon clone Pinot Noir and five of Pommard. Always dry farmed, LIVE certified since the 2012 vintage, and widely considered one of the better sites in the Chehalem Mountains. Robert Brittan, who spent decades in Napa at Far Niente, Saint Andrews, and Stags’ Leap, became winemaker with the 2010 vintage.

The range covers estate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Rosé of Pinot Noir, White Pinot Noir, and Late Harvest and Dry Riesling. White Pinot Noir is the unusual one — the same grape pressed off its skins immediately so no color transfers.

The Piazza tasting room is atrium-style with big open windows, looking east toward Mount Hood. Adirondack chairs and picnic benches outside. Nothing is sold in retail stores.