Elvenglade Winery
& VIneyard
Elvenglade Winery makes some quite delicious
and well priced wines in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The wines are made
from their Estate vineyard, a small vineyard that is remarkably good
at producing superior cool climate varietal fruit.
Winemaker Chris Wirth joined ElvenGlade in
2001, after 20 years of experience in the wine industry, mostly in
California. Among the wineries that benefited from his talents were William
Wheeler, Clos Du Bois, and Preston Vineyards, where he helped to develop
their highly successful Rhone wine program. Originally
from upstate New York, Chris came to Oregon to pursue his passion for Pinot
Noir and other cool climate
varietals.
Owner Bill Kelley planted his first Pinot
Gris plants in 1986. For years he sold the fruit to local wineries. In
1998 he
started
having the fruit made into wine for his own (ElvenGlade) label. In 2000
he quit his day job and started working for the winery full time.
The winery was
completed during harvest of 2001.
 Bill is often asked about how he named the
winery:
"I made up the name
when I bought my first land in the area…many years ago. I had just
read the Hobbit and the trilogy and I wanted to have a name for the place
that would fit
into those stories, without stealing one from the books. If you come
here you will see why the name fits so well. BTW: We can neither confirm
NOR
deny the existence of Elves living here. If they did live here we couldn’t
comment on what help they might give in the winery." |