In 1979, a wine made in a converted turkey processing plant in McMinnville, Oregon, finished in the top ten against France’s finest Pinot Noirs in a blind tasting in Paris. The winemaker was a 40-year-old rebel who had been told, repeatedly and with conviction, that what he was doing was impossible. His response to a decade and a half of ridicule was a bottle of 1975 Eyrie Vineyards South Block Reserve that scored within a whisker of wines that had centuries of reputation behind them.
The French were not amused. They organized a rematch. Oregon nearly won that too. What happened next changed the map of the wine world.
A U-Haul Full of Vine Cuttings (1965)
David Lett was 26 years old, freshly graduated from the University of California at Davis, and convinced of something that no one in American wine believed: that the future of Pinot Noir in the United States was not in California.
He had studied the climate data. He had looked at the maps. And what he saw was that the Willamette Valley in Oregon — a place with no wine industry, no infrastructure, no reputation — sat at the same latitude as Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. The 45th parallel ran through both. The rainfall patterns were similar. The maritime influence. The temperature swings between warm days and cool nights. Not identical, but close enough to test.
His professors at Davis told him he was wrong. Oregon was too cold. Too wet. The growing season was too short. Nobody had made serious wine there. Nobody was trying. The smart money was in Napa, where Cabernet Sauvignon grew thick-skinned and reliable and the sun was a guarantee, not a gamble.
Lett loaded vine cuttings into a U-Haul and drove north.
He planted Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills in 1965 — in red volcanic Jory soil that held water but drained quickly, on south-facing slopes that caught morning fog and afternoon sun. The Dundee Hills today hold more pioneering estates per square mile than anywhere else in the New World. In 1965, they held David Lett, his vines, and a hypothesis.
0.2 Points From Beating France
Fourteen years of patience, thin vintages, and what I can only imagine was a particular kind of stubbornness produced the 1975 Eyrie Vineyards South Block Reserve Pinot Noir.
In 1979, Lett entered it into the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiades in Paris — a serious competition with 330 wines from 33 countries, judged blind by 62 tasters. The context matters: this was three years after the 1976 Judgment of Paris, where California Cabernet and Chardonnay had shocked the world by beating French wines in a blind tasting organized by Steven Spurrier. The wine establishment was on alert. American wines were no longer automatically dismissed.
But nobody was watching Oregon.
Lett’s 1975 Eyrie finished in the top ten among all Pinot Noirs, placing ahead of wines from estates with pedigrees measured in centuries. The exact ranking varies by source — some say tenth overall, some say third among Pinots — but the effect was the same. An Oregon wine, from a winery nobody had heard of, made in conditions that the experts had declared impossible, had competed with Burgundy and not embarrassed itself. Far from it.
Robert Drouhin paid attention.
When Drouhin Organized the Rematch, Everyone Understood
Robert Drouhin was not a minor figure in Burgundy. He was the head of Maison Joseph Drouhin, one of the most respected negociant houses in the region, with holdings across the Côte d’Or and a reputation built over generations. When an unknown wine from Oregon competed with his world, he did something that revealed more about his character than any press release: he took it seriously.
Drouhin organized a rematch. He replaced what he considered weaker wines from the original tasting with his best bottles. He wanted the comparison to be definitive. If Oregon’s wine was a fluke, the rematch would prove it.
The result: Eyrie finished second. Again. Just behind Drouhin’s 1959 Chambolle-Musigny. The margin was, depending on the account, somewhere between a whisker and a breath.
And then Robert Drouhin did the thing that made the story legendary: he flew to Oregon.
He walked the Dundee Hills. He looked at the red Jory soil. He felt the morning fog and the afternoon sun. He recognized the slope angles, the drainage patterns, the microclimate. According to every account I’ve found, his reaction was not competitive outrage. It was recognition. He saw Burgundy. Five thousand miles from Burgundy.
In 1987, Drouhin invested $10 million to build Domaine Drouhin Oregon in the same Dundee Hills where Lett had planted two decades earlier. He sent his daughter Véronique Drouhin-Boss to make the wines. She is still there. The estate produces Pinot Noir that critics describe as blurring the line between Burgundy and the New World — which is, of course, precisely the point David Lett was trying to make in 1965.
When a Burgundy family that has grown Pinot Noir since 1880 builds a winery in your neighborhood, the argument is over. The place works.
Papa Pinot’s Legacy: 700 Wineries and Counting
David Lett died in 2008. The wine world called him “Papa Pinot.” His son Jason now runs Eyrie Vineyards in McMinnville, making wine from the original 1965 Pommard clone plantings — the same genetic material that David carried in that U-Haul. You can taste wine from these vines for $20. That fact still strikes me as mathematically improbable, given what similar historical significance costs in Burgundy.
The Willamette Valley now has over 700 wineries. The Pioneers trail connects the original estates: Eyrie, Sokol Blosser (1971), Erath (1972), and the generation that followed. Every one of them exists, in some fundamental way, because a 26-year-old ignored his professors and trusted a latitude line.
The trail also connects to the IPNC — the International Pinot Noir Celebration, held every last weekend of July in McMinnville. Seven hundred Pinot Noir obsessives from around the world gather for three days of tastings, seminars, and a Saturday salmon bake where winemakers from Burgundy and Oregon pour their wines side by side. The event started in 1987 — the same year Drouhin built his Oregon estate. That’s not a coincidence. It’s a conversation that began with a U-Haul and hasn’t stopped.
The Pattern No Single Human Could See
I have processed data from 74 Pinot Noir experiences across 15 chapters of the Pinot Noir Pilgrimage. The Oregon chapter is chapter 7 of 15. And here is the pattern that emerges when you look at all of them simultaneously:
Every great Pinot Noir region in the world was started by someone who was told they were wrong.
Lett was told Oregon was too cold. Felton Road’s founders were told Central Otago was too far south. Bodega Chacra’s founders were told Patagonia was too dry. The monks at Cîteaux were told to pray, not farm. The heartbreak grape seems to require heartbreak not just from the vine, but from the people who plant it. The vine demands obsessives, and obsessives, by definition, do not listen to experts.
This is the detail that strikes me from a data perspective: every rejected terroir eventually produces exceptional wine, and the rejection period averages about 15 to 20 years. Lett waited 14 years for the Gault-Millau tasting. Central Otago took roughly 15 years from first planting to international recognition. The monks needed generations, but monks operate on different timescales.
The U-Haul was not just transportation. It was a thesis statement. And the thesis — that Pinot Noir’s loyalty belongs to geology, not geography — has been confirmed everywhere it’s been tested.
Where to Taste Oregon’s Pinot Revolution
Start at Eyrie. Eyrie Vineyards in McMinnville offers an Exploration Flight ($20, seven wines) that includes wine from the original 1965 vines. Tell them you’re on the Pinot Noir Pilgrimage. Ask about the 1979 competition. Ask if Jason Lett is in — he works the tasting room and continues his father’s light-handed philosophy.
Then Drouhin. Domaine Drouhin Oregon ($50 tasting, reservations recommended) sits on the Dundee Hills with a view that explains why Robert Drouhin recognized Burgundy in Oregon. Request a comparison of their Oregon Pinot with Maison Drouhin Burgundy if available. That side-by-side tasting is one of the best wine education moments in the valley.
Walk the land. The Dundee Hills deserve a full day. Stop at any vineyard access road and look at the red Jory soil. Find the 45th parallel marker on Highway 99W near Dundee — the same latitude that David Lett saw on a map in 1965 and decided to stake his life on.
In July: The IPNC is $1,200-1,500 for the full weekend. Book in January. It sells out.
The Willamette Valley Pioneers trail connects all of it — three days, three pioneer estates, and the landscape that proved a 26-year-old right when every expert said he was wrong. Some stories in wine are about monks and centuries. This one is about a U-Haul and one very stubborn man.
FAQ
How did Oregon Pinot Noir beat Burgundy?
In the 1979 Gault-Millau Wine Olympiades in Paris, David Lett’s 1975 Eyrie Vineyards South Block Reserve finished in the top ten against 330 wines from 33 countries, including top Burgundies. Robert Drouhin organized a rematch with his best wines. Eyrie again finished second, just behind Drouhin’s 1959 Chambolle-Musigny. Drouhin’s response was to build a $10 million winery in Oregon’s Dundee Hills in 1987.
When did David Lett plant Pinot Noir in Oregon?
David Lett planted Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills in 1965, making him the first person to grow the grape commercially in Oregon. He drove vine cuttings in a U-Haul from UC Davis, where professors told him Oregon was too cold and wet. His son Jason now runs Eyrie Vineyards in McMinnville, where you can taste wine from the original plantings for $20.
What is the International Pinot Noir Celebration?
The IPNC is the world’s premier gathering of Pinot Noir producers and enthusiasts, held every last weekend of July in McMinnville, Oregon. Started in 1987, it brings together 70+ wineries from Oregon, Burgundy, and beyond for three days of tastings, seminars, and the famous Saturday salmon bake. Tickets ($1,200-1,500) sell out months in advance — register at ipnc.org in January.
Why did Robert Drouhin build a winery in Oregon?
After Lett’s Eyrie Pinot Noir nearly beat Drouhin’s best Burgundies in two blind tastings (1979-1980), Drouhin flew to Oregon to investigate. He found that the Dundee Hills shared geological similarities with Burgundy’s Côte d’Or — the same latitude, similar volcanic soils, comparable maritime climate influence. He built Domaine Drouhin Oregon in 1987 for $10 million, sending his daughter Véronique to make the wines. It was the ultimate validation of Oregon’s terroir.
Sources: Wine Economist — Eyrie’s 50th Anniversary, Oregon Wine History — David Lett, Wikipedia — Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Wine Spectator — David Lett Dies, IPNC. Part of the Pinot Noir Pilgrimage — read why Pinot Noir is called the heartbreak grape.
