Westrey > Oregon

Westrey Wine Company was founded in 1993 by co-winemakers Amy Wesselman and David Autrey, along with David’s father, Robert Autrey, in Oregon’s burgeoning Willamette Valley. While getting Westrey off the ground, Amy was the General Manager and Assistant Winemaker for David Lett at the Eyrie Vineyards and then the Executive Director at the International Pinot Noir Celebration, a position to which she has recently returned. Amy and David focus on crafting elegant Pinot Noir wines, fruit-driven Burgundian-style Chardonnay and crisp, refreshing Pinot Gris. The wines are designed to be balanced and ageworthy, always complementing and enlivening the food with which they are served.

Sourcing fruit both from the vineyards of long-time and well respected friends in the Willamette Valley and from their own Oracle vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA, Amy and David use these various puzzle pieces of fruit to build complexity into their wines. Vineyard-designated bottlings are designed to showcase the connection between the individual farms where the grapes are grown and the final personality of the wine.

Farming practices: Amy and David strive to grow their grapes and make their wines using a sustainable approach. The vineyard is LIVE Certified, a credential that is earned by taking into account not only organic approaches to farming but also by considering the inputs and outputs of the farm as a whole. Through their commitment to the !Salud! program Amy and David help to provide health care to vineyard workers who are otherwise uninsurable. The winery currently produces approximately 4,000 to 5,000 cases annually.

MATT KRAMER: “Westrey is an exemplar of Oregon pinot noir perfectionism. Few, if any, Oregon wineries exceed Westrey in pinot noir quality, even when their prices are well in excess of anything Westrey asks.”

Westrey Website

Chardonnay Reserve, Willamette Valley

2014 was a growing season that offered great opportunities for Westrey's high elevation vineyard. With an early bloom, and plenty of sun during the growing season, it was difficult to make balanced wines. The 38 year-old Draper vines were up to the challenge. Picking on two dates: October 6th and the 10th, ripe fruit, with excellent acidity and balanced sugar. Amy and David have consistently demanded length, richness, and balance for their Reserve wines; and this wine has it all! The hallmark of the 2014 vintage in this chardonnay is richness and pinpoint acidity. The balance between precision and richness of this wine is a celebration of a wonderful nerve-racking vintage. The concentration of sweet fruit in the wine stands out as the finish lingers with crisp acidity. This six and a half barrel lot included one new barrel (15%) and two one-year-old barrel. The wine was bottled without filtration or fining after fourteen months and will have a small amount of natural sediment in the bottle. 138 cases & 4 cases of magnums produced. 13.1% alcohol.

Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

The challenge of the 2013 vintage was to bring in fruit that was ripe and disease free. The growing season was a challenge. Bloom in mid-June under cold and wet skies made for a nail biting start. But Amy and David picked physiologically ripe fruit from a classic Northern Willamette Valley vintage starting on October 2nd. With meticulous sorting and rigorous fruit selection the wine is a classic. The vineyard source for the 2013 is Westrey's Oracle Vineyard (eight different clones). The wine has a weighty flavor spectrum of wild raspberry, red current and sweet spice. Fruit aromas are complemented by notes of sweet clove spice and the slightest hint of vanilla oak. On the palate the wine is open and opulent, with loads of pure Pinot fruit, leading into a rich mid-palate and a balanced finish with a hint of well integrated tannin. The wine was bottled without fining or filtration. Aging and a complete indigenous malolactic fermentation took place in 100% French oak, with 15% new and 20% one-year old barrels. Bottled in September of 2014 after 11 months in barrel without fining or filtration. 866 cases produced. 12.7% alcohol.

Pinot Noir Oracle Vineyard, Dundee Hills

The 2012 blend includes 12% 35-year-old Pommard clone Pinot Noir, planted on its own roots in 1977. The remaining 66% is dominated by the Dijon 777 clone but has small percentages of five other Dijon clones. With the 2001 planting (densely planted 777&115 on RG) in full production, coupled with the strong return of the old vine block, Oracle is now firmly entrenched in Westrey's winery. All lots were fermented with indigenous yeast in open-top 1,500-liter fermentors. This thirty-four barrel lot had six new barrels, six one year old, and the balance in neutral wood. The wine displays classic pure berry fruits (Marionberry, black Current and Red Raspberry) and exceptional weighty balance. After an indigenous malolactic fermentation, it was racked with inert gas in the spring of 2013, and was bottled unfined and unfiltered in September of 2013 after eleven months in oak. 850 cases & 6 cases of magnums produced. 13.5% Alcohol.

Pinot Noir Reserve, Willamette Valley

The Reserve barrels were carefully chosen for their expression of their vineyard of origin and their aging potential. In 2012 the wine started in the vineyard. With the strain of long dry spell one block for Dijon 667 stood out. Five barrels from this block were blended with 2 barrels of the old-vine Pommard and 2 barrels from the 777 block. The wine displays intense blackberry, redcurrant and spice aromas. These aromas are complemented by hints of blackcurrants, vanilla sweetness, coffee from the oak, and a predominant floral character. On the palate the wine is mouth-filling and supple, possessing rich fruit and enough acidity in the long finish to make a balanced and complete wine. At harvest the individual lots were given an approximately five-day cold-soak prior to fermentation. Each lot fermented separately with a combination of indigenous yeast and a commercial yeast imported from Burgundy. The fermentation lasted an average of 18 days for each, and pressing occurred at dryness. At pressing, the wine was sent directly to barrel to maintain a maximum amount of lees. There it completed an indigenous malolactic fermentation. In May it received an inert gas racking from barrel to barrel. The finished wine was bottled in late April 2014, without fining or filtration, to allow the wine’s character to fully show through. The 2012 blend was aged in 30% new wood and 10% one-year old, with the balance coming from neutral wood. 244 cases and 5 cases of magnums. 13.4% alcohol.

Pinot Noir - Abbey ridge

Planted in the Red Hills of Dundee in 1977 by Bill and Julia Wayne, Abbey Ridge is one of Oregon’s oldest producing vineyards and one of the very best. Also Westrey's highest elevation vineyard, the fruit has ample time at this cool site to develop true varietal character. Abbey Ridge fruit is consistently elegant and complex, with truly incredible aging potential. The Wayne's farm the vineyard using only organic sprays on the grapes. The vines’ 30-year-old roots tap water from deep within the soil making irrigation unnecessary, a big advantage in an area where water is becoming more and more scarce. The vineyard’s natural balance generally yields only 2 – 2.5 tons per acres, contributing to excellent concentration in the finished wine.

In 2013 Abbey Ridge produced a beautiful classic Dundee Hills wine! Harvested on October 8th under gorgeous skies, the fruit had good tannin development, terrific acidity and delicate fruit flavors. The only down-side being that it was less than a ton per acre. On the nose there is the signature of Abbey Ridge Vineyard: high tone crushed-raspberry fruit with a layering of a floral lavender/lilac and undercurrent of earth and oak that burst from the glass. On the palate the wine continues to show excellent sweet fruit expression of raspberries, sweet-exotic spice, and earthy texturally rich fruit. The balance and completeness of this wine is expressed from the very first sip through to the last drop. A wine truly distinguished by it’s terroir. After thirteen days in the fermentor, the must was pressed, and racked directly to barrel. Of the four barrels, one was new (25% new oak) and the remainder was a blend of one-year-old and neutral wood. After an indigenous malolactic fermentation, the wine was lightly sulfured racked to the bottling line and bottled after 12 months without fining or filtration. Total production: 94 cases & 2 cases of magnums. 12.7% alcohol.

In 2014 Abbey Ridge produced an extraordinary wine! Harvested on October 4th under beautiful skies, the fruit was ripe with silky tannins, terrific acidity and huge, effusive fruit flavors. On the nose there is the signature of Abbey Ridge Vineyard: high tone crushed-raspberry, bright red current fruit with a layering of a floral lavender/lilac, and an undercurrent of earth. On the palate the wine continues to show massive fruit expression for a wine as elegant and age-worthy as this one. Raspberries and sweet-exotic spice are complemented by a subtle hint of vanilla and coffee from the oak. The balance and completeness of this wine is expressed from the very first sip through to the last drop. A wine truly distinguished by it’s terroir. After eighteen days in the fermentor, the must was pressed, and racked directly to barrel. Of the ten barrels, two were new (20% new oak) and the remainder was a blend of one-year-old and neutral wood. After an indigenous malolactic, the wine was lightly sulfured and racked to the bottling line after 12 months in barrel, without fining or filtration. Total production was 251 cases & four cases of magnums.

Justice vineyard

Justice is located in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA next to Bethel Heights Vineyard. Situated at around 450 feet, the rows face due south on Nekia soil with a sedimentary subsoil. The 2012 is 100% 777 from the DDW block. Showing the weight and saturated color that is characteristic of the 2012 vintage, this wine explodes from the glass. On the nose one is invited to taste through aromas of marionberry, black-raspberry fruit, earth, and a hint of a floral note. The entry shows big dark berry fruit, with excellent weight and a refined structure. As the roots continue deeper into the sedimentary subsoil, the fruit expression of Justice has developed more dark fruit and mineral/chalk. Because Westrey had excellent stem ripeness from the growing season, they used 20% whole cluster fruit to accentuate the spicy character of the grapes, and to add structure to an already superb wine. This seven-barrel lot had one new barrel, two one-year-old barrels with the balance neutral wood. It was racked with inert gas once in the spring of 2013 after an indigenous malo-lactic, and was bottled unfined and unfiltered at the end of September 2012 after 12 months in oak.
170 cases & 5 cases of magnums produced. 13.7% Alcohol.

Cuvée 22 Pinot Noir

This is only the second time Westrey has made an old vine Pinot Noir cuvée. This wine celebrates Amy’s 25th vintage making wine in Oregon. After several comparative tastings, three barrels consistently rose to the top above everything else from the vintage. Amy selected three barrels from Westrey's 38-year-old own-rooted Pommard vines, and a single barrel of Coury clone from Bill and Julia Wayne’s outstanding Abbey Ridge Vineyard (also planted in 1977 & 38 years old). In a ripe vintage, the grapes were picked in the last week of September with excellent acidity and moderate sugar (22.9 degrees Brix). The wine spent 20 months in barrel with 25% new wood. It has a rich, balanced palate that shows the length and weight of the old vines. With a wide flavor spectrum from raspberry-sweet spice to marionberry and fresh truffly-earth, it has great richness and the structure to age for 15+ years. This four-barrel lot was bottled without fining or filtration in early April in the spring of 2016. 94 cases and 5 cases of magnums produced. 13.1% alcohol.

Pinot Gris