Chehalem Winery
By Christina Kelly
Avalon Staff Writer
Chehalem wines are distinctly
" Oregon with Burgundian refinement."
Harry Peterson-Nedry has a distinct fingerprint in the wines made at Chehalem
Winery, but he also has a mark on future winemakers as a mentor who is willing
to teach his craft to those willing to listen.
Bill and Cathy Stoller are
co-owners of Chehalem and owners of one of the three Estate Vineyards
Chehalem uses, Stoller Vineyards. Stoller now releases wines under
its own label, Stoller Vineyards.
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As co-owner/founder of the Newberg, Oregon
winery, Peterson-Nedry makes some of the most distinctive, Burgundian-style
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines in the state. Words like muscular, sensual,
supple and chewy are tossed into the mix when describing the Chehalem
Pinot Noirs.
The Chardonnay is sophisticated, complex,
and well balanced.
The Pinot Gris, however, are distinctively Alsatian with rich, honeyed emollience
in many of the wines.
The winery grows its own grapes on a
167-acre estate, with 65 acres planted. About 12,000 cases are produced
each year, including several vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs, a dry Riesling
reserve, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay.
Passionate about big red wines, Peterson-Nedry
also helps to perpetuate the wine industry by working with young people,
teaching his skills and methods and sharing the joys and anticipation
of winemaking. Chehalem's former winemaker, Cheryl Francis spent
time working in the wine industry in Burgundy, New Zealand and Oregon
before
coming to Chehalem in 1996.
 Harry
first developed Chehalem by making wine in his 1000' sq. ft. garage in
Newberg
in 1990.
He continued this way until 1995 when he purchased a winery called Veritas
from the Howiesons. The Howiesons hired Cheryl in 1994 and Harry knew
right away that he wanted Cheryl to "crossover" and be a part of Chehalem's
growth going forward. From day one at the new facility Harry and Cheryl
shared all winemaking responsibility. Finished wines truly reflected
both their philosophies on winemaking and style. With her departure,
Harry and Michael, now lead the
charge for new
techniques
and experiments, and
guiding a team of harvest interns from Argentina and New Zealand.
Cheryl Francis, her husband Sam Tannahill (winemaker
at Shea and former winemaker at Archery Summit), and Bill and
Deb Hatcher (former manager at Domaine Drouhin) have
a new wine effort- AtoZ Winery.
Cheryl and Sam also now focus on their new winery, Francis
Tannahill,
whose first release was in early 2004. The wines are simply outstanding.
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Cheryl and her husband Sam, who is the
winemaker at Shea Vineyards are developing
their own vineyard in the Dundee Hills and released their first wines
under the Francis Tannahill label in early 2004. Ironically, the new
winemaker at Archery Summit is Anna Matzinger, eternally
connected
to Michael Davies, Chehalem's vineyard manager.
In business since 1980, Peterson-Nedry
has seen a number of different people enter the wine business, including
technical school renegades, doctors who drank wine and decided to make
it, home winemakers who decided to do it commercially and the new crop
of apprentices.
"I like this new crop of people-they make it their
job to reinvent themselves and come in with fresh ideas. The younger
people will come in and take the lead. It is how it should be."
Another young and dynamic member of the Chehalem
team is Michael Davies. Michael joined Chehalem in 1999 from New Zealand
as vineyard manager for Ridgecrest and Corral Creek. Michael worked harvest
in '99 and Harry offered him full time employment following. In the few
short years Michael has been with Chehalem they have seen dramatic improvements
in fruit quality and overall vineyard health. Additionally, their sustainable
agricultural practices have been unyielding. Michael is another young,
energetic addition to Chehalem that works closely with Harry and Cheryl
on all aspects of viticulture. He is quite a handsome fellow too.
While Harry is always present at the winery, offering
guidance and insight at every opportunity, he has dedicated many of his
energies in the last 18 months to new vineyard development on Ribbon
Ridge. Chehalem will begin planting 57 newly acquired acres adjacent
to Ridgecrest Vineyard in the spring of 2003. On the docket is approximately
13 total acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. (maybe even some Riesling!)
Peterson-Nedry creates wines that age exceptionally
well. It is the difference between Chehalem wines and other Pinot Noirs
in Oregon.
"We like the elegance, but we also like intensity," Peterson-Nedry
said. "You can drink our wines now, but they have staying power and cellar
very well."
Chehalem Pinot Noirs are big, with deep fruit and
good acid. He continues to strive for refinement in experiment after
experiment, using enzymes to break down the fruit, and vigorous punch
downs.
 "When you quit experimenting, you quit improving," he added.
"Our wines are drinkable young, but they aren't optimum
until about two years after release. We're not a big oak house either,
so you won't have all that oak flavor-just a big concentration of fruit."
Harry and Judy Peterson-Nedry moved to the Northwest
in 1972. He was educated as a chemist, but spent most of his adult career
in technical and management roles in the high tech manufacturing industries,
focusing on quality and process control. (His daughter Wynne is a senior
in college, majoring in chemistry and may follow in her dad's footsteps.)
The property for Chehalem was purchased in 1980, with the first crop
of grapes harvested in 1985.
The label on Chehalem wines is artistic and abstract.
Peterson-Nedry says the staff each sees something different in the art
label.
"It says something about wine, too," he said. "It's
subjective. It's OK to be different from someone else. We like that idea
a lot."
Ridgecrest Vineyard from the air |
Chehalem recently released a Pinot Gris
that is getting noticed by wine publications and critics. The winemakers
nursed the Pinot Gris grapes as though they were children, dropping their
crop to one-third of the normal size to get more concentration.
"We didn't skimp on our babies," Peterson-Nedry
said.
In addition, Chehalem is experimenting
with synthetic corks and using them more often each year on the white
wines. Peterson-Nedry, along with many other Oregon and Washington wineries,
are losing wines to poor-quality corks. So far, Chehalem winemakers are
satisfied with synthetic corks but are waiting to see how well they hold
up in red wines.
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