About The Eyrie Vineyards
The Eyrie Vineyards is the most historically important winery in Oregon. In 1965, David Lett — nicknamed "Papa Pinot" by Oregon wine lovers — planted the first Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris vines in the Willamette Valley, at a time when the conventional wisdom held that vinifera grapes could not survive Oregon winters. He was wrong, and the wine world has been grateful ever since.
Lett's 1975 South Block Reserve Pinot Noir famously finished second in a 1979 Paris tasting organized by Robert Drouhin, ahead of Drouhin's own Chambolle-Musigny and most of Burgundy's top producers. A rematch in 1980 produced the same result. Drouhin was so impressed that he established his own Oregon estate — Domaine Drouhin Oregon — shortly after.
Today the winery is led by Jason Lett, David's son, who continues producing wines of extraordinary restraint and longevity. Eyrie wines are not the most immediately seductive Oregon Pinot Noirs — they reward patience and cellaring. The Pinot Gris, which David Lett also pioneered in Oregon, remains among the finest expressions of the variety grown anywhere in the world.