Hyland Estates Wine from Oregon
Hyland Estates is located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the foothills of the coastal range. The winery is part of the McMinniville AVA has been around since 1970 and is one of the oldest vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Based on their location, the vineyards have cool maritime air every evening resulting in the great characteristics Willamette Valley Pinot Noir are known for.
The property was acquired in 2007 by Laurent Montalie and Danielle Andrus Monteliu in partnership with John Niemeyer (an Oregon home builder and real estate investor). Despite the age and history of the estate, the new owners are forward thinking. For decades fruit from the estate has been used to make many award winning Oregon wines under other producers labels. Laurent and Danielle decided to introduce the first estate wines made solely from the vines on the estate and showing their respect of place and the land they biodynamically farm the vineyards on the estate.
French born Laurent is the main winemaker at Hyland Estates and studied wine making in Bordeaux. Danielle who is married to Laurent grew up learning about wine at Pine Ridge Winery in Napa, owned by her family. Together this husband and wife team are a true power wine couple having French training in wine making and Napa expertise in the marketing and the running of a commercial winery. With this new endeavor they seek to recognize the history of the estate by honoring the fruit and the land the grapes come from while looking toward the future.
Laurent graduated from t
As part of #winechat, a weekly virtual discussion on Twitter hosted by Tina Morey of Protocol Wines, I was provided four wines from Hyland Estate to discuss and taste.
Hyland Riesling 2012 ($25) has citrus and floral notes it has great minerality and is quite dry making it a great wine to sip on a hot day or to pair with food.
Hyland Gewurztraminer 2013 ($28) has amazing aromatics of lychee, stone fruit and lavendar. It has great acidity and while it’s smell may make you think it will be sweet, this wine is instead quite dry and delicious.
Hyland Estates Pinot Noir 2011 ($38) has smoke and pepper elements which are apparently characteristic of Hyland Estate. These elements mingle with blackberry and dark cherry fruit flavors to produce a delicate well balanced wine .
Hyland Coury Pinot Noir 2012 ($60) comes from the Coury clone which was apparently smuggled into the US from France by Charles Coury in the 1960’s and after tasting this wine I completely understand why Mr. Coury wanted to bring this clone in from France. This wine has amazing red fruit flavors of raspberry and strawberry and nice spice notes that round out the wine making it elegant and refined and it will only improve with age
Living in California, I do not have access to much Oregon wine but these wines have shown me that Oregon wines are certainly worth seeking out especially when it comes to the quality to price ratio on Pinot Noir. I am really excited to see what lies ahead for Hyland Estates under the capable stewardship of Laurent and Danielle and look forward to trying and learning more about other Oregon wine producers.
For more information on Hyland Estates and to purchase the wines discussed visit hylandestateswinery.com
on volcanic Jry and Nekia soils
Tags: #WineChat, Danielle Andrus Montalieu, Gewurtztraminer, Hyland Estate, Laurent Montalieu, McMinniville AVA, Oregon, Pine Ridge Winery, Pinot Noir, Protocol Wine Studio, Riesling, Tina Morey, Willamette Valley
