Westrey Wines

Westrey Wines is the collaboration of Amy Wesselman and David Autrey (Wes + trey = Westrey) and their young twin sons, Soren and Leo. Westrey is a serious wine collector's winery, with Burgundian influences and an emphasis on ageable, classic wines made to pair with fine cuisine. The wines are approachable when released and are so well made, some continue to drink well for a decade.

There are five amazing Westrey Pinot Noirs, ranging in price from $22 to $37, from fantastic vineyard sites, including their own Oracle Vineyard, Justice Vineyard and Abbey Ridge. They make one of the best Pinot gris and a stellar Chardonnay, as well.

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David and Amy are winemakers to the core. Both earned degrees in Philosophy from Reed College and we suspect that weighs heavily on their approach to winemaking. You might say that, as much as they chose wine, wine chose them. Their first harvests in Oregon were 1989 for David and 1991 for Amy, and both winemakers bring a deep understanding of the seasons, the soils, the terroir, and the unique grape growing and winemaking conditions of the Willamette Valley to their craft. They really love the whole thing - all aspects of grape growing and winemaking - they embrace the entire process. The end product is important, but it's not the be all end all. The beauty of their work is not necessarily any one bottle, but the stops along the road. Vintage after vintage, there's something told, something different - a subtle variation, a radical change in direction.

Westrey's first vintage was in 1993, and they continue to operate out of a plain cement building down a gravel road in McMinnville. The scenery is of cell phone and powerline towers, with a bit of railroad added for even more industrial flavor. Out of such unlikely quarters come superb wines.

Amy spent ten years as a director of the International Pinor Noir Celebration (IPNC), an annual gathering of Oregon Pinot Noir wine lovers and wine makers. She now serves as co-chair of ¡Salud!, an Oregon wine auction that raises money to pay for health care for uninsurable seasonal vineyard workers. David is an avid music lover and enjoys horsing around with his sons.

About Oracle Vineyard. David and Amy purchased the land from a horse farmer, unaware that it had previously been planted in grapes and had since been plowed under. When they prepared to plant, they discovered old rootstock that had survived the carnage sprouting to life in their midst. With careful pruning and tender loving care, these forty year old vines are now producing some outstanding grapes. The white wine grapes show a pronounced minerality, inherent to the Draper Clone of Chardonnay (to which it was originally planted). David and Amy have since planted another 15 acres which is mostly Pinot noir with a bit of Pinot gris. Oracle's red wine grapes (Pinot noir) show rose petals in the nose, and crushed red fruit flavors on the palate. Oracle is a cooler site, higher up in the Dundee Hills than other vineyards in the area, and is predominantly Jory soil. Maresh and Weber Vineyards are on the other side of the hill from Oracle, and Le Pavillon and Clos Electrique Vineyards are nearby.

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