Cristom Vineyards

Paul Gerrie, an engineer based in Pittsburgh, was searching for suitable land in North and South America to open a winery. Trips to France to pursue his passion for wine had exposed him to the French concept of terroir and its importance in Burgundy. He visited Oregon in 1991 for the International Pinot Noir Celebration and decided that it would be an ideal location. Mike Etzel, the owner of Beaux Frères, also in the Willamette Valley, was hired as a consultant to look for an appropriate location. Doerner graduated in 1978 from the University of California, Davis with a degree in biochemistry and had spent 14 years at the Californian Calera Wine Company, specializing in working with Pinot noir, as well as studying under Jacques Seysses, owner and winemaker at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy before being appointed winemaker at Cristom in 1992. ==Vineyards==

Cristom has eight estate owned vineyards, with an area of . Six of the vineyards are named after family matriarchs. Marjorie is the only vineyard that was not replanted in the years following the purchase of the winery. It is named after Paul Gerrie's mother. The vines were originally planted in 1982, and there are of Pinot noir. The initial single vineyard wine from this location was from the 1994 vintage. ==Wines==

Cristom is best known for its Pinot noir based wines. Four single vineyard wines are produced with Pinot noir grapes from the vineyards Marjorie, Louise, Jessie and Eileen. Cristom also produces a Pinot noir blends, the Mount Jefferson Cuvee named after a mountain visible from the winery. The Mount Jefferson Cuvee is a blend from ten different vineyards, with the best barrels of the blend being separated to be bottled as the Sommers Reserve wine. Around 3,500 cases of the Mount Jefferson and 1,250 cases of the "Sommers" Reserve are produced each year. with about 1,500 of that total being white wines. ==References==