Articles

New Wines, New Faces: Lemelson Boldly Makes Oregon Pinot Noirs

Wine Spectator
August 08, 2003
by Harvey Steiman

"The crew calls it Starship Enterprise. Shall we take it for a spin?"
asked Eric Lemelson, standing on a platform that does vaguely resemble a movie spaceship's control deck. It hovers over the space between two rows of stainless-steel fermentation tanks. Lemelson pulls a lever, and the deck swivels slowly, positioning an onboard destemmer directly over a tank. "It rolls up and down the row so we never have to put the grapes through a pump," said Lemelson, 43, son of late inventor Jerome Lemelson, who held more than 500 patents, including one for the now-ubiquitous bar-code reader.

Eric himself designed the "Enterprise" to fit into his state-of-the-art
Lemelson winery, which specializes in Oregon Pinot Noir. The innovative building -- made of sustainable materials wherever possible -- cascades down a hill, so all the wine is gently moved by gravity. "The idea is to do handmade wines at 10,000 to 12,000 cases," said Lemelson, a former environmental attorney.

Lemelson's first vintage was 1999, and he's up to 5,000 cases with the 2002 vintage. Since the beginning, the wines have been made by Canadian Thomas Bachelder, but he left this spring to manage Le Clos Jordan, a new Pinot Noir winery in Ontario.

The current releases, from 2000, show jazzy qualities; pure fruit character with intensity, but not weight; and tannins that are present, but don't bite. The Stermer Vineyard 2000 (92 points, $38), for example, bursts with raspberry, cherry and white pepper flavors. The supple Thea's Selection 2000 (91, $29) has a core of appealing plum and blueberry fruit. Also from 2000 are the Reed & Reynolds Vineyard (90, $38) and Jerome Reserve (90, $44) Pinots, along with Wascher Vineyard Chardonnay (87, $26) and Tikka's Run Pinot Gris (not rated). Future vintages will include more single-vineyard wines from Lemelson's six sustainably farmed sites.

Before becoming a lawyer, Lemelson, who has lived in Oregon since 1979, worked for U.S. Rep. Ron Wyden, now a senator, focusing on environmental issues. He also worked on Gary Hart's presidential campaign in 1984.

A taste of Beaux FrËres Pinot Noir 1993 in a restaurant "turned a light on in my head," he recalled. "If I could make a wonderful beverage like this, that would be a great way to spend the rest of my life." In 1995, he planted his first vineyard on a farm he had bought several years earlier, on Chestnut Hill, in Willamette Valley.

Working with the vines persuaded Lemelson to plunge headlong into the wine world. Some of the seed money came from his father, even though he was a teetotaler. "He would never understand why someone would pay a lot of money for a bottle of wine, but he was supportive," Eric said. Perhaps Jerome recognized an inventor's spirit in his son for tackling the notoriously challenging Pinot Noir.

"We know we can't make Burgundy in Oregon," said Lemelson, "but there are certainly lessons to be learned from the Old World. It's a sensibility about what the wine should be."

New Oregon Wine Maker Toasts Inaugural Vintage

Portland Business Journal
March 1, 2002
by Shelly Strom, Business Journal Staff Writer

It's time to pop the cork and celebrate. Wine aficionados around the country have gotten a taste of the first vintage from Lemelson Vineyards and the word is out: Another serious contender has joined Oregon winemakers.

Although hundreds of wineries dot Oregon's Willamette Valley wine country, Lemelson Vineyards is attracting attention.

One of few Oregon wineries built to be gravity-flow from the ground up, Lemelson boasts 100 acres of owned vineyards throughout Yamhill County and a wine-maker recruited from Burgundy. It is the result of an endeavor began more than a decade ago by founder Eric Lemelson.

"What we are trying to do is wine in a craftsman style,"said Lemelson. "It is not being run like a corporation in any way. We're just trying to make the best pinot noir possible. Having that kind of controlled intensity is just really obvious to the people who've come around."

Lemelson, a New Jersey native, moved to Oregon in 1979 to attend Reed College. More than a decade later, on a year-long break from law school, Lemelson purchased a small farm on Parret Mountain. "I saw an opportunity to create something that would be bigger than the sum of its parts. And sitting at a desk all day as an environmental lawyer just didn't suit my temperament."

Lemelson continued purchasing acreage, most of which was sold off by retiring farmers who used the hilly land for prunes, hazelnuts and cattle. By 1997, Lemelson began work on what would be one of few wineries in that depend solely on gravity to move grapes through the wine-making process. Though initial costs will be higher, system will make for finer wines in the long run.

Lemelson Vineyards introduced its first wines, 1999 harvest of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris, last fall. The 2001 is being bottled now. And although Lemelson acknowledged his varietals join a similar crowd produced in Oregon already, he said the attention to detail at his winery will set him apart. "Wines are as infinite and varied as the places they are from. Each vineyard on each little hillside is varied. And Oregon's marginal climate means constant attention to detail. Just in the last 20 years, there has been a complete revolution in quality here," said Lemelson, who noted vineyard practices have only relatively recently evolved from allowing vines to grow into a dense hedge to tedious clipping and training of vines to make the most of Oregon's short sunny season.

That way of doing things already has garnered attention far afield. "The first vintage is critical," said Geri Tashijan, partner at Manhattan-based Burgundy Wine Co. "It's like walking into a room and you either look good, or you don't. It doesn't have to be spectacular because it is a vintage but it has to be really typical of your style." Lemelson has been received very well, Tashijan said. "They've done an outstanding job. Their wines are delicious and appealing and people can understand them. You can see there's substance and backbone behind them." And even though they're doing the same varieties as everyone else, they're very quality oriented, Tashijan said. "That comes out of a passion for Burgundy. They're coming at it with the right spirit." Additionally, Lemelson's first release is distinguished with its multiple price points. "So many wineries come out and they've got to hit at $50 a bottle. Somebody can introduce themself to Lemelson without spending top-dollar to find out what Lemelson is all about. People don't have to stop and think whether they want to open their wallet."

A mention of Lemelson in the trade publication Wine Press Northwest sums the stance taken by local wine-makers-the magazine recently named Lemelson among four "New Wineries to Watch." Wine-maker Luisa Ponzi said Pacific Northwest wineries definitely have watched Lemelson's efforts. "The first vintage answers, `In what realm are you going to play the game?'" said Ponzi, whose wine-maker husband Eric Hamacher helped design Lemelson's winery. "The wines are very well made. They've gotten some very nice reviews. With this vintage released, we all see Lemelson is going to be a player. Obviously they are serious about making wine," she said.

But at the same time, Lemelson wines haven't drawn fabulously over-the-top reviews, which Ponzi said is a good thing. Living in the shadow of high marks can be a curse. Ponzi said an elevated sorter that Eric Lemelson and his design team created has generated considerable interest in the wine-making community.

"You want to use gravity as much as you can in wine-making. Lemelson has gravity-flow from the grape to the bottle. That is something we would all love to have."