The Eyrie Vineyards

Eyrie states its farming as a list of things never done: no herbicides, no pesticides, no tillage, no irrigation, across five certified-organic estate sites. The cellar is as conservative. One barrel in twenty-five is new, and twelve of the first barrels bought almost fifty years ago are still in service.

A seated tasting by reservation, from a lineup the winery varies rather than a fixed flight. It spans the certified-organic estate wines, from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to newer plantings such as Chasselas and Trousseau, with single-vineyard or library bottles added. The fee is USD $40 per person (August 2026).

Eyrie receives guests year round by reservation, so timing turns on what is in the glass rather than whether the door is open. McMinnville also hosts the International Pinot Noir Celebration, first held there in 1987 by the Oregon Wine Board's record.

Booking required: the tasting room at 935 NE 10th Avenue, McMinnville, Oregon 97128 takes reservations daily, first seating 11:00 and last seating 15:00, on (503) 472-6315. Tastings are USD $40 per person, refundable against a purchase of $120 per person (August 2026). No food service is advertised.

The visitor address is in McMinnville, not among the vines. Eyrie farms in the Dundee Hills and receives guests at the McMinnville winery, a short walk from the town's restaurants. The Dundee Hills Winegrowers Association places that AVA 28 miles southwest of Portland, where Domaine Drouhin Oregon and Sokol Blosser farm.

The Eyrie Vineyards is a family winery in McMinnville, Oregon. Its winery and tasting room stand at 935 NE 10th Avenue; its five estate vineyards are farmed apart from them in the Dundee Hills of the Willamette Valley. David Lett planted the first vines on 22 February 1965.

David Lett reached Oregon at 24 with degrees in viticulture and philosophy and about 3,000 grape cuttings. The Oregon Wine Board records that he rooted them near Corvallis in February 1965 while searching for permanent ground, and that he and Diana Lett later moved the young vines to the Dundee Hills. Diana named the place for the red-tailed hawks nesting above it.

The estate sits on Jory and the related Nekia soils, laid down as volcanic flows 15 to 17 million years ago over basalt cobble. Eyrie selected Jory deliberately, and it is now Oregon's state soil. The Dundee Hills Winegrowers Association puts typical Jory depth at 4 to 6 feet, draining freely enough to allow dry farming.

Eyrie does not claim Oregon's first Pinot Noir. Its own wording is the first Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Willamette Valley, plus the first Pinot Gris commercially planted outside Europe. The Oregon Wine Board records Richard Sommer planting Pinot Noir at HillCrest in the Umpqua Valley in 1961.