Thursday, July 7: An Evening with Chehalem Winery
We are very happy and excited to present a winemaker dinner with one of the top wineries in Oregon. Chehalem traces its history back to vineyard operations started by Harry Peterson-Nedry in 1980 at Ridgecrest Vineyards, the pioneering wine operation on Ribbon Ridge, northwest of Newberg, Oregon. Bill and Cathy Stoller joined Harry in the winery in 1993 and subsequently began Stoller Vineyards—a densely planted, 125 acres on Stoller family farmlands at the southern tip of the Dundee Hills. Corral Creek Vineyards, adjacent to the winery facility, is Chehalem’s third estate vineyard.
There is a constant stream of praising reviews for their both their Pinot Noirs and their white wines coming from national and regional press and it is easy to see why. They are not followers of today’s fads but in their words: “we think our objective is not to follow today’s trends, but is to lead to a novel future that is stimulating, exciting and beautiful…” We have a menu for this event that, we believe, showcases fully their wines.
Wynne Peterson-Nedry (daughter of one of the legends of Oregon Pinot Noir production) is coming to supply narrative and answer any questions you may have. Wynne has been at Chehalem from the beginning, being a 6-month old in arms as they signed on the original property that would become Ridgecrest Vineyards, personally labeling by hand most of the first release 1990 Ridgecrest Vineyards Pinot Noir, working part of harvest twice despite high school (as part of a chemistry project) and college (break) rigors, and working summers for several years. Now, with a Masters degree from UC Davis’ Viticulture & Enology, she is the assistant winemaker.
