Hyland Estates (from Doc Ed)

​If you are visiting the Willamette Valley, Hyland should be one of your destinations.  It is about 40 miles southwest of Portland, and situated among several fine vineyards. I first found it about two years ago, and it has become my first stop every time I return to the area. 
Hyland is one of the oldest and largest wineries in the area, with 180 acres that were planted in 1971.  Like other vineyards in this region, Pinot Noir is the main grape varietal that they serve.  For you white-wine lovers, they also produce Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Muller Thurgau.  Hyland wines regularly win awards, and commonly have a 90+ rated wine listed in leading publications.  Some of the fruit from their property was used in the 1985 Burgundy Challenge in Paris!

Unlike the practice at most of the other vineyards, Hyland distinctively serves several single-clone wines rather than blends composed of multiple clones.  Here you can taste pure Wadenswil clone, a cold weather grape registered in Switzerland that can have an interesting pepper finish.  Also available are pure clones of Pommard, Coury, Dijon 115 and others.  I like this approach, as it lets me taste the pure flavor of an individual clone, rather than mixed blends which tend to blur together in my mind and in my mouth.  See tasting menu below.

​Hyland has a friendly staff with much better credentials than I have found at other places.  The person I most commonly see serving the wine is a sommelier (level 3) which is rare in my travels in Oregon and California.  Rebecca is very knowledgeable and makes the tasting very educational.  Also at the winery is a sommelier (level 4) who teaches monthly classes at the tasting room, among his many other duties.
The wine club has several options ranging from 2-3 bottles every quarter, up to 4-6 bottles per quarter.  Both provide free tastings, and 15% to 20% discounts on the wine.   While Hyland suggests the composition of each wine club shipment, they freely permit substitutions to customize the wine shipment order.  Hyland (hylandestateswinery.com) is open for tastings from 10:00 to 5:00 daily.