Westrey Wine Company

Westrey Combines Experience
and Knowledge to make great Wines
By Cole Danehower
April 2006

“Amy and I feel we’re really lucky,” says David Autrey, who with Amy Wesselman form Westrey Wine Company, a signature example of the sort of small and independent wineries that have put Oregon on the world’s wine map. The pair are relaxing in their living room, enjoying the quiet of the winter season, and a few moments of peace while their young twin sons are with friends.

“My first harvest was in 1989 and Amy’s was in 1991,” David continues. “Between us we have over 30 years of winemaking experience in Oregon. That gives us a little perspective. Of course, it’s still just enough experience for us to know just how much we don’t know!”

David’s comment reveals a lot about how these two engaging winemakers have been able to produce so many superb wines since their inaugural vintage in 1993. Given the complexities of winemaking and the vagaries of Mother Nature, Amy and David approach their craft with healthy doses of both confidence and humility.

“We’ve come to realize that no matter how many vintages you’ve worked, Mother Nature still holds the reins,” adds Amy—and then chuckles at the unintended pun “and the rains, too!”

Westrey's Estate Vineyard

Of course, there’s still a lot that a couple of smart winemakers can do to coax out of Mother Nature what she is willing to deliver in any given vintage. And to help them do that, David and Amy have spent a number of years developing their own estate vineyard in the Dundee Hills.

Finding acreage that contained an abandoned vineyard that had been planted in the 1970s, and which was located next door to one of their favorite vineyards to make wine from (Abbey Ridge), was a godsend for the pair. Starting in 2001, they dug right in and worked to renovate the old 7-acre chardonnay, pinot gris, and pinot noir vineyard and are now producing fruit from it for their Westrey label.

But they are also adding new plantings that together with the old should push their total production up to around 2,200 cases. “This spring we are going to plant 1.3-acres of Pommard and 3.5-acres of clone 667, Pommard, and clone 777,” explains David.

Amy and David are also going to plant a test block of many different varieties so that over successive vintages they can monitor how each grape grows at their site, matures, and tastes. What they learn from that experience will help them make more informed decisions as they plan the planting of the remaining 14 acres of their estate vineyard.

Westrey's Wines made from Several Vineyard Sources

Of course, Westrey Wines are also composed of non-estate fruit from different appellations (or American Viticualtural Areas, also known as AVA’s) within the Willamette Valley. “I really don’t want to try and stereotype what the fruit is like from each AVA,” says Amy, “because you can always find exceptions. But even so, there are definitely differences in each region. I look forward to being able to take people through the cellar and show them how the regions can taste.”

Currently, Westrey sources fruit from the Justice Vineyard in the Eola Hills, Abbey Ridge, in the Dundee Hills, and Maysara Vineyard in the McMinnville AVA.

“Abbey Ridge and our property shows the red raspberry fruit that people talk about when they speak of the Dundee Hills,” says Amy. “To me, Dundee Hills and its Jory-soil fruit produce red raspberry, spicy, kind of lavendery and high toned floral notes. The wines are very slurpable, but categorically different from the blue fruit, marionberry pie, blueberry preserves, delicious set of flavors that you get out of Eola Hills and sites like Justice Vineyards.”

The Maysara fruit is also very different, David notes. “That fruit is a nice complement to the blend. It tends to be more structured with plenty of tannin and lots of nice black fruit character. It marries well with the rambunctious berry flavors we get from the Justice Vineyard fruit.”

David and Amy's "Take" on Vintages

Of course, no matter how great the fruit is, each vintage puts its own stamp of character on the wine that gets made, and in the last few years Oregon’s vintages have been quite different.

“2003 was definitely an unusual vintage,” notes Amy. The weather in the Willamette valley was unusually warm, and fruit ripening took place very rapidly, with unusually high sugars and tannins. “I think it was easy for people to panic in ’03—you had to pick at some pretty weird times and some pretty weird numbers in order to get balanced fruit.”

As two philosophy majors, David and Amy have formed some definite opinions on how to approach “tough” vintages. “I think you need to keep your eye on the prize,” says Amy, “which is to get the right flavors—not green and not overripe—and to get a wine that is structurally balanced between acids and tannins. I think we did a good job of that in ’03.”

The 2004 and 2005 vintages were a return to “normal” for Oregon, says David. “These are just classic, Oregon vintages. I see a lot of cool-climate flavors: raspberry, black raspberry, blueberry, great floral notes, very precise acids and balance, plus wonderful  vintage complexity. The wines have layer after layer after layer of fruit, and earth and floral and minerality. And tons of concentration! In ‘04 we averaged about 1.6 tons per acre and in ‘05 we were closer to 0.9 tons per acre.”

If having a lot of experience helped Amy and David make good wines in an odd year like 2003, it also helped them make better wine in a more “traditional” Oregon vintage.

“There are a lot of winemakers who have been working with Oregon fruit since 2000—they have plenty of experience—yet they’ve never seen a rainy harvest,” points out David. “But having been through previous years like this, we have the confidence that we can last through some rainy periods. We know what our vineyards can take and what they can give, so we can afford to be measured in how we pace our picking. Some others who haven’t been through a wet harvest might pick too soon—or too late.”

“You can complain and moan and groan and grasp at straws for control all you want,” adds Amy, “but you’re much better off if you just let go and roll with the punches and see what the vintage brings you. Mother Nature can help you, if you let her!”

Perhaps that’s what their experience has done for Amy and David: given them the wisdom of patience to combine with their confidence and skills. And perhaps that is as good a formula for winemaking excellence as any!

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