Tualatin Estate Winery

owned by

Willamette
Valley
Vineyards

Willamette Valley Vineyards makes wine under several labels. Tualatin Estate produces lovely wines at great prices.

Winemaker
Joe Dobbes

WVV has leased or purchased new vineyard sites throughout Oregon, and 1996 saw the first fruits of their work. The 1996 Merlot and Pinot Gris from Griffin Creek were rich, bold, delicious wines, and the 97 line has expanded to include Viognier and Syrah. The very limited Joe Dobbes Cuvee wines are Joe's choice of the best barrels from all of Willamette Valley Vineyards' harvest, made by hand by Joe from start to finish.

Joe keeps his harvest per acre small and intensely flavored by removing many of the grape clusters from the vine before maturity, and gently moves the wine with gravity feed methods until it is bottled. Careful selection of the most effective grape vvine clones, trellising methods, and spacing of plants also contribute to quality and complexity of these fine wines.

->Go to Tualatin Wine info and Ordering<-

Joe Dobbes' and Sterling Fox's hard work have produced some wonderful wines from this mature vineyard. Sterling, now vineyard manager for Rex Hill, worked with Joe as Tualatin's vineyard manager to improve quality for several years, turning a foundering vineyard into a source for high quality grapes. Tualatin is particularly known for a wonderful Semi-Sparkling Muscat that Joe developed after creating Silvan Ridge's Early Muscat while he was winemaker there. All of the wines from Tualatin are lovely.

Their most popular wine:
Tualatin
Semi Sparkling Muscat --
$17.99 -----
A very very popular wine. The explosively enticing aromas of citrus, peach and apricot lead you to a sweet but well balanced taste that leaves you wanting for more. The delicate Semi-Sparkling Muscat goes well with desserts ... don't miss the experience.

Tualatin Estate Vineyards, established in 1973, is one of the oldest vineyards in Oregon. 2000 marked Tualatin Estate's 27th year as a pioneer in the Oregon Wine Industry. Building upon its experience and experimentation with wine-grape clones and viticultural practices, Tualatin Estate's motto is Old Vines - New Vision.

Vines from this 140 acre site have received awards for two decades. Tualatin received two Best of Show awards at the Oregon State Fair in 1998. Their Pinot Noir eclipsed the competition in the red category, and their Chardonnay was the star of the whites. No other winery in the history of the competition has matched this feat.

Tualatin's Winemaker Joe Dobbes has worked at wineries in Germany, France and throughout Oregon. He's gained national attention for creating award-winning wines, and he's even seen his wine poured at the White House. "There's glamour in this business," Dobbes admits, adding quickly, "but it's short-lived. It sounds romantic ... all that wine tasting and black-tie affair thing." In reality, he tastes from as many as 200 barrels of wine a day and sums it up with:

"Taste, smell, spit. If you swallow, you soon won't know, or care, about differences in the wine." It is the tasting that leads to the blending which determines the quality of the wine.

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