Beyond Pinot Noir: The Oregon Wines You Need to Know About

Wall Street Journal

a day ago

Some years ago I was invited to a dinner party for Oregon natives in suburban New York. The Oregon-born host had erroneously assumed I was Oregonian, because, months earlier, I'd brought a bottle of Oregon Chardonnay to a dinner we'd both attended. It wasn't a totally outlandish conclusion; Oregon Chardonnay was still fairly obscure outside the Beaver State back then. Happily, such wines are much easier to find today along with Oregon whites like Pinot Gris, Riesling and Grüner Veltliner.
Pinot Noir has long been the state's signature grape. Accounting for 58% of Oregon's total grape production in 2024, it's still far and away the most planted grape, too, with 28,264 planted acres devoted to it. Far behind in second place, Pinot Gris accounts for just 6,483 acres under vine—though that number is nearly double what it was in 2014. Third-place grape Chardonnay is also gaining, at 3,482 acres as of 2024, more than twice what it was a decade prior. From Chenin Blanc to Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc, Albariño and Riesling, other white grapes, too, are redefining winemaking in Oregon.