About Shea Wine Cellars
Shea Wine Cellars sits at the northern end of the Yamhill-Carlton District, on what is widely treated as one of the Willamette Valley's benchmark vineyard sites. Dick and Deirdre Shea, native New Yorkers, bought the land in the late 1980s and planted their first vines in 1989, a substantial bet on an appellation that was still largely unproven; Dick had been a Wall Street trader before turning to farming.
For its first years the operation was a grower rather than a producer, and that is still much of what it does. Of the roughly 155 planted acres, the great majority is Pinot Noir with the remainder in Chardonnay, and only about a fifth of the Pinot and a third of the Chardonnay is kept for the family's own label. The rest goes to other wineries, which is why Shea Vineyard appears on bottlings from producers across Oregon, California and Washington.
The site itself explains the interest: marine sedimentary soils of the Willakenzie series, shallow and well drained, on hills that catch a cool maritime influence, with a good deal of the wider property left in forest as a buffer. Pinot Noir plantings run through Pommard, Wadenswil and the Dijon clones, while the Chardonnay is clones 76 and 95.
The Shea label itself is small, at roughly 5,000 cases of Pinot Noir and several hundred cases of Chardonnay, and it is built around block selections from the vineyard alongside the estate bottlings. Visits are seated, privately hosted and by appointment, held in the working winery on the vineyard itself rather than in a separate hospitality building.
Oregon's most quoted vineyard address, and only a fifth of the fruit stays home.
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A grower first,only about a fifth of the Pinot Noir and a third of the Chardonnay is kept for the Shea label; the rest goes to other wineries.
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Planted on a hunch in 1989,Dick and Deirdre Shea bought into Yamhill-Carlton well before the appellation had proved itself.
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Block-by-block bottlings,the range is built on selections from named parts of the vineyard alongside the estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
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Tastings in the winery,seated and privately hosted by appointment, in the working winery on the vineyard rather than a separate tasting room.
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Dog-friendly,listed among the Willamette Valley Wineries Association's dog-friendly members.
"Oregon's most quoted vineyard address, and only a fifth of the fruit stays home."
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Current Releases
Wines change with each vintage
For an accurate list of current-release wines and library bottlings from Shea Wine Cellars, please check the winery's official website or contact the tasting room directly. Yamhill-Carlton District producers typically rotate vintages and offerings seasonally.
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Founding Estate Tasting
Shea Wine Cellars has not published a current tasting menu or pricing that we have been able to verify. Check the winery website for what is being poured and what it costs before you visit.
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