Wineries Visited During the Willamette Valley Wine Festival: Penner-Ash & WillaKenzie

Written by Tom Murnan, Photos by Tom Murnan

During the Willamette Valley Wine Festival, we had one day where the Society visited 3 wineries of Jackson Family Wines. The following is a report on 2 of them.

Penner-Ash Wine Cellars was established in 1998 when Lynn and Ron Penner built their winery in the Northern Willamette Valley, in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The site was selected due to its proximity to the Shea Vineyard, one of the best in the valley. The winery sits atop a hill with a beautiful view of Mount Hood. The couple didn’t want to take out a hundred-year-old grove of trees below, so it was spared. They wanted to build the winery to reflect the beauty of the area and the sense of place. 2005 was the first harvest, but the winery was not quite done. Only about 100 cases of wine were labeled that first harvest. The neighboring community came out and helped them label and wax the bottles. Lynn calls this their ramen [noodle] year because all the cash was going back into building the winery.

The winery went from strength to strength, crafting Pinot Noir not only from their own property, but from leased vineyards such as the Shea, Ridgecrest, Bramble Hill, Élevée, Bella Vida, Aegrina, Hyland, Palmer Creek, and Zena Crown vineyards from the Yamhill-Carlton, Chehalem Mountain, Dundee Hills, McMinnville and Eola-Amity Hills AVAs. In 2016, Penner-Ash joined the Jackson Family Wines empire.

WillaKenzie Estate (WKE)was founded in 1992 in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA by Bernard Lacroute. It is named after the sedimentary soil on which the vines are planted. The name also pays tribute to two of the Willamette Valley’s major rivers: the Willamette and McKenzie. This is incorporated into their crest. The rivers appear as two sets of waves in the top-right and lower-left corners of the crest. These expressive lines evoke the rivers as well as the rolling hills of our Yamhill-Carlton Estate. The fleur-de-lis at the center of the crest pays homage to founder Bernard Lacroute’s French heritage.

The French are always speaking of Terroir. WKE claims to have coined the moniker “Place Matters,” the Oregon way to say terroir. Willakenzie soil is ancient marine sedimentary from uplifted seabed. It gives Pinot Noir dark fruit flavors and aromas and firm tannins. WKE’s wine lineup consists of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gamay Noir, and Pinot Meunier. They claim to have several Grand Cru vineyards. Their high-end wines are labeled La Créte (the Crest). 93 acres of vines are planted on slopes ranging from 302 to 734 feet above sea level. Eric Kramer is the winemaker. They too joined Jackson Family Wines in 2016.

AUG 10

SEP 09