Brittan Vineyards

An estate winery in the McMinnville AVA founded by Robert and Ellen Brittan, who purchased a 128-acre Coast Range hillside in December 2004. Robert began making wine in his dorm room at Oregon State University, where he studied physics and philosophy, then completed his education at UC Davis and moved to Napa, serving as the first winemaker at Far Niente and later spending sixteen years as winemaker and estate manager at Stags’ Leap Winery. He now has more than 45 harvests behind him.

The estate sits on soils mixing glacial deposits and volcanic material over ancient fractured marine basalt, across a 180-degree hillside with east, south, and west exposures. Roughly 25 acres are planted, with close to half the original vineyard replanted since purchase. Wines are all estate-grown and bottled by block: the seven-acre south-facing Basalt Block, where vine roots meet fractured basalt most directly, produces savory, mineral-driven, red-fruited wines; the two-acre Gestalt Block on the southwest flank yields under a ton per acre, giving small thick-skinned berries and pronounced intensity; and the three-acre east-facing Cygnus Block, planted in 2008 to the Swan selection, runs east-west so the Van Duzer winds channel through the rows rather than across them. Chardonnay and Syrah are also produced — the Syrah reflecting Brittan’s interest in cool-climate Cornas and Côte-Rôtie.

Brittan also makes wine for several other labels including Winderlea, Fairsing, deLancellotti, Lazy River, and Ayoub, and has made wine from all six Willamette Valley sub-AVAs. Emily Terrell is associate winemaker; Ellen handles sales and marketing. The tasting room is in a shared production space a few blocks off Third Street in downtown McMinnville, alongside Winderlea, where the wine is also made.