Wines and Vineyards

J.C. Somers Vintner sources from some of the greatest sustainably farmed vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley and beyond. As is often said, wine is made in the vineyard, as it turns out this is true. Some vineyard sites display exceptional terroir and I have spent 30 years finding these special places that consistently produce wines of great quality.

Abbey Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir
 I have worked with Abbey Ridge since 1993 (while at Adelshiem) and in 1994 with Cameron Winery. In 2001, I was lucky to be offered a block of Pinot Noir at Abbey Ridge and have been working with the fruit ever since. Abbey Ridge is the cornerstone to our Pinot Noir program and I believe it to be the best Pinot Noir site in the Willamette Valley. Owned by my friends Bill and Julia Wayne, this vineyard is the platonic form of what the Dundee Hills AVA is all about – elegance.
We have 2.5 acres of the Coury Clone Pinot Noir

​Bella Vida Vineyard Pinot Noir
​Bella Vida Vineyard is another exceptional vineyard site in the Dundee Hills. Owned and meticulously farmed by Steve Whiteside, it is one of my favorite sites to work with.  I started making wines from this vineyard in 2001 when the vines were still very young, and, over the years, it has steadily matured to become a powerful expression of the Dundee Hill AVA. We currently have 0.5 acres each of the
Pommard, Wadenswil and Dijon 777 clones.

La Colina Vineyard Pinot Noir
La Colina Vineyard is a vineyard I have always referred to as "secret sauce". In my former winemaking life I was creating much larger Dundee Hills Pinot Noir blends for the national market. Year after year the barrels I selected to do a single vineyard "La Colina Pinot Noir" were sacrificed into the blend, it always elevated the wine in such a positive way it had to be done. This is a classic Dundee Hills site and is farmed by my friend George Hillberry. When I started this new project I was fortunate that George had a small block left and it beautifully complements my other Dundee Hills Pinot Noir wines. We have 1 acre of the Pommard clone. 
​
Croft Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc
​Truly one of the top white wine vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley. The Croft Vineyard is located southwest of the Eola Hills near the town of Monmouth. The organically farmed Croft Vineyard is in the foothills of the coast range and grown in ancient marine sediment soils. It is owned by Chancy and Toni Croft and farmed by Lee Croft and I have been working with the Sauvignon Blanc since 1999. The 2004 Croft Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc I made won best white wine of the year in Sunset Magazine and has been a little bit of a cult wine ever since. It is the most distinctive white wine I produce and it is great to continue to work with this magical site.
We work with 1 acre of the clone 1 Sauvignon Blanc.

Corrine Vineyard Chardonnay
I love Chardonnay and have been producing it since 2000 and I am so thrilled that it has made a comeback especially here in the Willamette Valley. For many years most Chardonnay made here was not super exciting. Falsely blamed on the wrong clonal selection, the real reason for the renaissance is the fact that we became much better winemakers and winegrowers. The dijon clones of Chardonnay are fantastic but so are the old clones 108, Draper and Wente – you have to farm them correctly.
Just ask Cameron's John Paul about this subject.  
The Corrine Vineyard (formerly Olenik) is owned by my friends at Cooper Mountain and the farming is being converted to organic and biodynamic. I have worked with this Chardonnay for just a few years but it has made some lovely wines. I produce this wine in 600 L french oak barrels without malolactic fermentaion in order to produce a wine with more focused acidity.
​We have 1 acre of the Dijon clones of Chardonnay.

Coming for 2020
​Although we are committed to being a very small producer of about 1,500 cases we do have a few new wines coming to the cellar in 2020.

Tukwilla Vineyard Pinot Blanc
We will be making a small amount of Pinot Blanc from this cool Dundee Hills Vineyard site. It came highly recommended by Jason Lett so I am hoping for great things.

Garnier Vineyard
I have been working with Tom Garnier and this super interesting vineyard site in the Columbia Gorge AVA near the town of Mosier since the early 2000's. If you ever had my Rosé wines form my previous winery you know this vineyard well. 
We will be producing Rosé again from the Syrah and Grenache as well as a Rosé of Tempranillo. 
For fun I am making a little Viognier in a a 600L acacia barrel. We are looking forward to expanding our white wine program.