1970 Willamette Valley / Oregon Vintage

The 1970 vintage was not just a growing season; it was the opening chapter of Oregon's wine story. David Lett had moved to Oregon in early 1965, against the advice of his professors at UC Davis, carrying 3,000 grape cuttings and a conviction that the Willamette Valley's cool climate was ideal for Pinot Noir. He and Diana planted their estate on a former prune orchard in the Dundee Hills, founding The Eyrie Vineyards in 1966. When the 1970 harvest came, it produced the first commercial Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley, a wine made under conditions that most of the American wine establishment considered unsuitable for fine red wine.

• David Lett planted the first Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and related vinifera varieties in the Willamette Valley starting in 1965
• The Eyrie Vineyards was officially founded in 1966 on a former prune orchard in the Red Hills of Dundee, about 30 miles southwest of Portland
• The 1970 vintage was the first to be produced and bottled by Eyrie, launching a winery that would reshape American wine history
• Lett became known as 'Papa Pinot' for his lifelong commitment to a restrained, Burgundian style of Pinot Noir that prioritized elegance over extraction

The Willamette Valley's climate in 1970 presented exactly the kind of cool, marginal conditions that Lett had sought out and that mainstream California wine educators had warned against. Situated between the Coast Range to the west and the Cascade Mountains to the east, the valley forms a broad, protected basin that generates a long, temperate growing season with warm summers, cool evenings, and rainfall concentrated in winter and spring rather than at harvest. These conditions create slow, even ripening that preserves natural acidity and allows Pinot Noir to develop aromatic complexity rather than sheer weight. In 1970, with vines only a few years old, yields were naturally low and fruit character was delicate.

• The Willamette Valley's protected position between the Coast Range and Cascades moderates temperatures and shields against frost and excessive autumn rain
• Cool evenings throughout the growing season preserve acidity and extend the ripening window, a key advantage for thin-skinned Pinot Noir
• Young vines planted from 1965 onward had limited root establishment by 1970, naturally restricting yields and concentrating whatever fruit was produced
• Rainfall in western Oregon is concentrated in winter and spring, typically allowing a relatively dry harvest window in most years

The Oregon wine landscape of 1970 was defined almost entirely by a small band of idealists willing to bet on a region the establishment had dismissed. The Eyrie Vineyards led the charge, but 1970 also saw Dick and Nancy Ponzi establish Ponzi Vineyards after purchasing 20 acres of land southwest of Portland in 1969. Charles Coury had planted vines in the Willamette Valley in 1965 as well. Dick Erath arrived in the region in 1968. These pioneers operated without an established appellation, without significant market interest, and with very little infrastructure, yet their collective effort created the foundation on which hundreds of future wineries would be built.

• Ponzi Vineyards was established in 1970 by Dick and Nancy Ponzi after moving to the Willamette Valley in 1969, becoming one of Oregon's four founding wineries alongside Eyrie, Erath, and Charles Coury Winery
• Oregon had only five bonded wineries and approximately 35 acres of vines in production across the entire state in 1970
• Charles Coury planted vines in Forest Grove in 1965 using rootstock brought from Alsace and Burgundy, contributing to the pioneering era
• David Lett sold some of his first vine cuttings to Dick Ponzi, illustrating the close, collaborative spirit that defined early Oregon winemaking

The significance of the 1970 founding vintage was dramatically amplified by events nearly a decade later. In 1979, Becky Wasserman, a French wine exporter who had visited the Letts in McMinnville, entered two bottles of Eyrie's 1975 South Block Reserve Pinot Noir into the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiades in Paris without the Letts' knowledge. The wine, made from 10 rows of Wädenswil clone fruit in the south block of the vineyard, placed in the top ten among Pinot Noirs, stunning a wine world that considered Burgundy unassailable. Robert Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin organized a rematch in Beaune in January 1980, substituting his finest wines. The result was even more remarkable: the 1975 South Block Reserve finished second, losing to Drouhin's 1959 Chambolle-Musigny by only two-tenths of a point.

• At the 1979 Gault-Millau Wine Olympiades, 330 wines from 33 countries were tasted blind by 62 judges; Eyrie's 1975 South Block Reserve placed in the top ten among Pinot Noirs
• Becky Wasserman entered the Eyrie bottles into the Paris competition without the Letts' knowledge, making the result all the more unexpected
• At the January 1980 rematch in Beaune, the 1975 South Block Reserve came second to Drouhin's 1959 Chambolle-Musigny by just two-tenths of a point
• Inspired by the results, Robert Drouhin purchased land in the Dundee Hills and established Domaine Drouhin Oregon in 1987, just miles from Eyrie

The 1970 vintage is Oregon's origin story, and its legacy extends far beyond the wines themselves. David Lett's conviction that the Willamette Valley was ideally suited to Pinot Noir, validated commercially from 1970 and internationally by 1979 and 1980, set the tone for an entire industry. His light-handed, Burgundian style prioritized elegance, restraint, and age-worthiness over extraction and color. Jason Lett, who took over as winemaker and vineyard manager in 2005 after training in France, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand, continues that tradition today, farming roughly 60 acres across five estate vineyards in the Dundee Hills. The Willamette Valley AVA was formally established in 1983, and today Oregon is home to hundreds of wineries with thousands of acres under vine.

• Jason Lett succeeded his father David as winemaker and vineyard manager at Eyrie in 2005, continuing the family's founding vision
• The Willamette Valley AVA was established in 1983, the first formally recognized appellation in Oregon, giving official identity to the region the pioneers had been farming since 1965
• The 1987 founding of Domaine Drouhin Oregon by the Drouhin family of Burgundy was a direct consequence of the 1979 and 1980 tastings, cementing the Willamette Valley's global reputation
• Oregon's modern wine industry traces its philosophical DNA directly to the 1970 founding generation, whose artisanal, terroir-focused approach still defines the region's identity