This Oregon Dijon clone is spectacular in the glass — and for your wallet
Dijon clone pinot noirs from the Willamette Valley get the most attention, but Oregon's clone chardonnays can be just as spectacular at less than half the price.
Great Value Wines
Willamette Valley “Dijon Clone” Chardonnay Willamette Valley, Oregon
$21.99 13% alcohol
PLCB Item #96302
Sale price through March 31 – regularly $24.99
Oregon produces some of the world’s best chardonnay and pinot noir, mostly from the Willamette Valley that stretches south from Portland’s suburbs. Unlike most new world wine regions, where everyday wine production came long before anyone attempted world-class winemaking, the founders of Oregon’s vineyards came to the Willamette Valley aiming for the stars from day one.
In the 1960s, the University of California at Davis was the pre-eminent winemaking institution in the nation. Vineyards in Napa and Sonoma were showing promise in making excellent cabernet sauvignon, but experiments with pinot noir were disappointing. A few eccentric students were determined to find an American region better-suited to making a pinot noir that could rival the greats from Burgundy, France. They identified the Willamette Valley as a close match in geographical terms, and headed north.
Geography was only half the battle, though; most of the Burgundian grapevines available in the United States had been selected for quantity of fruit output over wine quality. In the 1980s, the government of Oregon sent a delegation to France to collect vine cuttings to improve its options. Now known as the “Dijon Clones,” this imported vine material was propagated and proved well-suited to Oregon’s cool coastal vineyards.
Oregon’s Dijon clone pinot noirs get the most attention, but its clone chardonnays can be just as spectacular at less than half the price. This beautifully balanced example features the tension between richness and refreshment that make white Burgundy the world’s most-beloved white wine. Layered with flavors of orchard-fresh apples and lightly toasted walnuts, it is richly textured and concentrated, yet subtle enough to partner with the most delicate foods without hogging the spotlight.
No alternate retail locations within 50 miles of Philadelphia, according to Wine-Searcher.com