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In The Winery
they’ve planted, crop load, canopy management, along with
harvest time, and other winery practices will inform Jory volcanic
how each particular wine will turn out. soils. In 2016,
they launched
During his travels as a music executive, Boberg their first
had ample opportunities to connect with such lumi- release, a 2014
nary winemakers as Henri Jayer, who is considered Willamette
the “Godfather of Burgundy,” and known for the Valley Pinot
quality of his Pinot Noir. Also, Boberg continued his Noir that was
friendship with Méo. As owner and winemaker of selected as
the Côte d’Or’s Domaine Méo-Camuzet, Méo spent one of Wine
nearly 30 years making wines from vineyards like Spectator
Richebourg, Clos de Vougeot, Corton Clos Rognet, Magazine’s Top
and Échezeaux. 100 Wines of
the year.
Applying Burgundian Influences to
Willamette Valley Vines While their
initial focus
Both Méo and Boberg became entranced by the was on Pinot Noir, they expanded their offerings to
potential and quality of Oregon’s Pinot Noirs. They include limited releases of Chardonnay and Rosé.
decided to combine their respective backgrounds in In addition to the Bishop Creek vineyard, they
winemaking and marketing to a new region replete planted three acres of Pinot Noir on their Dundee
with new vineyards, new soils, and a new climate. Hills property. They will also plant vines that were
In this quest, Boberg took the same approach to imported from Méo-Camuzet, which need to be
creating wine that he did when signing artists. “I quarantined for a year. Eventually, they plan on
never signed a band because I thought they were having 25 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in
going to be a big hit. I signed them because their all. Also, they select grapes from other Willamette
music touched me emotionally,” Bobeg reflected. In Valley vineyards including Nysa, Momtazi, Hyland,
the same vein, Boberg and Méo wanted to make a and La Colina.
wine they wanted to drink in the hopes there were
enough people out there who had similar palates. Applying Burgundian Winemaking
Techniques to Oregon Pinot Noir
In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, they found the
kind of balanced, terroir-driven wines they like to Even though Méo is based in France, he communi-
drink. In addition, they were drawn to the wine cates with Associate Winemaker Tracy Kendall and
community that considers other winemakers to be Boberg to collaborate on all aspects of winemaking
collaborators not competitors. Also, the economics from harvest to elevage to bottling. In Kendall’s
of Oregon enabled them to start a viable business estimation the biggest difference between Nicolas-
compared to launching a winery in California. Jay and other wineries she’s worked with in New
Zealand, Australia, Washington, and Oregon is
After visiting over two hundred Oregon wineries Nicolas-Jay’s refusal to accept the status quo.
over a two year span, they learned to recognize “Because we’ve always done it that way is never
the vineyards they loved, as well as the practices an acceptable explanation for why we do what we
in the vineyards and wineries that produced the do,” Kendall notes. Also, another big difference she
wines that best suited their palettes. In 2014 they found is Nicolas-Jay’s focus on structure and tex-
purchased Bishop Creek, an organic vineyard in ture in the wines rather than flavor. As she states,
the Yamhill-Carlton AVA planted in the 1980s. This “The flavor of Pinot Noir develops if the grapes are
north-facing site provides cooler temperatures that picked for texture and weight and if fermentation is
allow for later ripening Pinot Noir and Chardonnay handled in such a way as to create the desired tex-
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