'06 Wine Harvest in Willamette Valley Having a Fantastic Year

Local Winery Eola Hills in Rickreall, just west of Salem, is having a banner year for two kinds of grapes.

Salem-News.com

(RICKREALL) - The year 2006 will be remembered as an excellent harvest year for certain grapes in the Mid-Willamette Valley according to the experts at the Eola Hills Winery in Rickreall.

Yields are up by almost 50% when it comes to Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.

Steve Anderson of Eola Hills said that the fruit looks delicious and tastes especially delicious. "We picked a bunch of Pinot Gris for the tasting room. The grapes are sweet and juicy, almost falling off the bunches as we pick."

"Tasting room guests are eating them up," says Jim Huggins, "it adds to the fun people enjoy when they step into the wonderful world of Oregon grapes and wines that are increasingly drawing more worldwide recognition." And now they're passing along '04 Chardonnay and '01 Wolf Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir lines at discounted prices to make way for new inventory, an obvious reflection of their success at producing one of Oregon's most sought after, locally produced products.