Columbia River Gorge region producing stellar wine grapes

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — In this windsurfing-obsessed town, even "boardheads" talk about the pinot noir and chardonnay.

Quietly, more farmers are planting vineyards and winemakers are opening tasting rooms, laying the foundation to becoming the next big wine-tourism destination in the Northwest.

Winemakers from Willamette Valley and even California wine country are starting to take note of Hood River. Ken Wright Cellars in Oregon, Abeja and Woodward Canyon in Walla Walla — among the top wineries in the Northwest — have bought grapes from the Gorge region.

And Wine Press Northwest recently named Cathedral Ridge Winery in Hood River, under Sonoma winemaker Michael Sebastiani, the 2007 Oregon Winery of the Year.

The Gorge wine region covers 280 miles and encompasses Hood River, stretching to the town of BZ Corner in Klickitat County, Wash., and as far southeast in Oregon as Vinzenz Lausmann State Natural Area.

Hood River stands to benefit most from wine tourism because it already has a tourism infrastructure base. Also, most of the Gorge's top restaurants — Brian's Pourhouse, Abruzzo Italian Grill, Celilo Restaurant and Bar and Nora's Fish House — are in Hood River.

Thousands of visitors come for the area's recreational diversity — you can ski at Mount Hood or kayak on nearby rivers, both almost year-round. The unusual topography and climate also help produce a diverse range of wines, from desert-climate zinfandel to cooler-climate chardonnay.

"This place will be a monster. Everyone will be pulling down wine awards," predicts Paul Wade, a former Napa Valley and Sonoma chef who recently moved here to be executive chef at Columbia Gorge Hotel. "The whole area is reinventing itself."

"Fruit Loop"

Among wineries that make some stellar wines here are The Pines 1852, Cathedral Ridge Winery, Viento and Phelps Creek Vineyards, the latter featuring a spectacular 2006 Judith's Reserve Pinot Noir with hints of cherry and blueberry.

Judith's, from a 16-year-old vineyard in southwest Hood River, rivals the pinot noir in the famed Willamette Valley and California's Russian River Valley. It can be sampled at Phelps Creek's tasting room, along the "Fruit Loop" agri-tour, near the golf course.

Celilo Vineyards, on the Washington side of the Gorge, grows some of the region's best chardonnay grapes, evidenced by the many top winemakers in Oregon and Washington who buy their grapes there.

But the Hood River area also "has the potential to be as good as Willamette Valley for the pinot noir," said Viento winemaker Rich Cushman, one of Hood River's top winemakers, who previously made wine in the Willamette Valley. "We can do elegant and pretty pinot noir here. The acidity is better than Willamette Valley."

11 tasting rooms

Hood River hosts 11 tasting rooms, and winemakers predict that number will double in the next five years. Downtown, The Pines 1852 offers a spacious tasting room, with live music, an art gallery and a magnificent zinfandel. Nearby, the new Naked Winery targets the young, hip crowd, though some of its wine labels — Vixen Syrah and Dominatrix Pinot Noir — have offended other winemakers and some locals. Outside of downtown, Cathedral Ridge Winery offers the area's largest selection of whites and reds.

Winemakers now also rely on grapes from nearby Columbia Valley, partly because the Gorge doesn't produce enough grapes to go around.

That will change in the next five years. Although Hood River supplies about a third of the nation's pears, even some pear growers are diversifying with vineyards, hedging that wine could be the next big thing.

Lonnie Wright, owner of The Pines 1852 winery, was among the first to see the potential. Wright owns one of the Northwest's oldest vines, planted by an Italian stonemason sometime in the 19th century. Other wineries have been winning awards with his zinfandel grapes, and by 2001, Wright said he wised up and started his own winery.

He now sells his prized zinfandels only to Peter Rosback of Sineann Winery in Yamhill County in Oregon, with the stipulation that Rosback make zinfandel wine for him.

Rosback has made some of the Gorge's best wines, including the 2006 Judith's Reserve Pinot for Phelps Creek.

Seattle Times staff reporter Tan Vinh is a frequent contributor to NWWeekend. Contact him: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com