Why Oregon Enticed This Burgundian Winemaker

This story is from an installment of The Oeno Files, our weekly insider newsletter to the world of fine wine. Sign up here.

Although the quality of the wines made in Oregon speaks for itself, one of the trends that really got people interested in its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in recent years was the influx of folks with roots in Burgundy setting up shop there. Now you can add winemaker Alban Debeaulieu to the famous Burgundian names—such as Drouhin, Louis Jadot, and Meo-Camuzet—that have descended on the Pacific Northwest. Debeaulieu earned his master’s degree in enology in Burgundy and made wine there before heading to the Beaver State, where he first worked at Domaine Drouhin and elsewhere before joining Abbott Claim. Alongside owner Antony Beck, Debeaulieu crafts sumptuous Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from estate plots in Yamhill-Carlton and Eola-Amity Hills using classic techniques in the vineyard and the winery. The newly released 2022 vintage proves that Abbott Claim is a worthy addition to the Burgundian-inspired wines of Oregon.

Of course, the region and its wines aren’t mere carbon copies of Burgundy—and the differences in geology are one reason why. The Côte d’Or rest atop 200-million-year-old Jurassic limestone, while the Willamette Valley rests on much younger, more acidic soils. In the Yamhill-Carlton and Ribbon Ridge AVAs are perched on 55-million-year-old marine sediments, while the Eola-Amity Hills and Dundee Hills AVAs sit on 12-million-year-old volcanic soils. Debeaulieu also draws a distinction between the climates: The Willamette Valley is strongly influenced by the cold Pacific Ocean nearby, with wet winters but hot, very dry summers, while Burgundy features a continental climate with regular rain throughout the growing season.

There are also notable differences in the vines. “In Burgundy, decades of careful plant selection and agronomic refinement, coupled with the ubiquity of very old vines and an intimate knowledge of terroirs, have produced vine genetics of unique and extraordinarily fine qualities,” Debeaulieu says. Meanwhile, in Oregon, vineyards are planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay either developed along the West Coast over the past century, shaped by American terroir, or with French clonal selections imported in the 1970s and 1980s.

“I think it’s a great thing for the Willamette Valley that the wines are being compared to Burgundy, and I think that dialogue is only going to strengthen the region’s position in the market,” says Chris Dunaway, wine director at Little Nell in Aspen, Colo., who currently serves the winery’s 2019 Abbott Claim Vineyard Pinot Noir and the 2021 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay. The comparison between the regions serves Oregon well. Although Dunaway knows that Burgundy is very popular “for all the right reasons,” he is also aware that the prices it fetches make it difficult to justify the spend for many diners. “Fortunately for me, I have a large number of international travelers during ski season that are keen to dive into the list and drink American,” he says. “Abbott Claim is producing some seriously thrilling wines at extraordinarily competitive prices relative to white and red Burgundy.” A staunch supporter of Willamette Valley Burgundy-inspired wines, Dunaway also pours Domaine Drouhin, Evening Land, Nicolas-Jay, and Lingua Franca. He tells Robb Report that Abbott Claim Chardonnay has “the nervy, saline mineral tension of a great white Burgundy along with impressive length and vertical substance.”

Abbott Claim owner Beck, who may be better known for the wines he makes at Graham Beck and Steenberg in South Africa, turned his sights on the Pacific Northwest after what he calls a fortuitous meeting with Oregon Pinot Noir pioneer Ken Wright. A fan of bottles from the likes of Bergström Wines, Beaux Frères, and Evening Land, Beck jumped at the chance to purchase Abbott Claim Vineyard when it became available. In Oregon, Beck has continued to implement the sustainable practices he is known for at his South African properties as well as at Gainesway, his family’s horse farm in Lexington, Ky., where he maintains a 1,600-acre registered arboretum with nearly 900 plant species, including over 70 oak varieties planted by his mother. “It only makes sense for us to bring that sensibility to Oregon where we have been farming organically, increasing soil health with compost and cover crops, replanting acres of Oregon White Oaks, or working with neighbors to preserve and develop native pollinators habitat,” he says. He also wanted to impart a European perspective and sensibility to his work in the Beaver State, which is why he brought on Debeaulieu.

For his part, Debeaulieu doesn’t believe that the techniques he uses are strictly what one would call Burgundian. “They are simple, traditional ways that can be found across many regions: organic viticulture, native fermentations, long aging on lees in a cool, damp cellar, and eschewing fining and filtration,” he says. “I suppose our tendency to look at and understand variations within vineyards at a very granular level can be called Burgundian, but not a technique per se.” He believes that the best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from either region will show “finesse, power, energy, length, and depth, all while displaying site-specific aromatic and textural qualities.” Although he says wines from the Willamette Valley can show riper fruit character, lower acidity, and a higher degree of alcohol, “there is a set of thoughtful, committed producers in the Willamette Valley pushing quality to new heights and competing with the most pedigreed of Old-World producers.”

Andy Chabot, senior vice president of food and beverage at the Barn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tenn., believes that although diners may have previously chosen wines from Oregon because they are an affordable alternative to Burgundy, he now thinks that wines from Willamette Valley have strong branding on their own. Rather than ordering one of the bottles on his list from Abbot Claim, Nicolas-Jay, Domaine Drouhin, or Lingua Franca strictly due to the price differential between those and Burgundy, “I find they ask for Oregon wines because they love them for what they are,” he says. “There is something about Oregon Chardonnay that walks the line between California Sonoma Coast and Puligny-Montrachet from Burgundy that is at once all its own thing and at the same time comparable to those other two great Chardonnay producing regions.” And he says Willamette Pinots are “elegant, pure, and showcase more of a darker red or even blue-fruit profile than you would expect to find in either California or Burgundy.”

As much as Debeaulieu doesn’t completely buy the oft-touted comparisons drawn between Burgundy and Oregon, that doesn’t stop him from relating the story of one of his wines from a small parcel inside Abbott Claim Vineyard called Orientate that was tasted blind by a group of advanced sommeliers a couple of years ago. “The consensus was that it was a Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru,” he says. “Soon after, the same wine was poured again at the Château du Clos de Vougeot to several Burgundian vintners, with similar results.” Nevertheless, to him the deeper kinship between the two regions lies not in geology or climate, but in spirit, in “humility and the pursuit of excellence, camaraderie through hard work, and an understanding that nature is the story worth telling,” he says. “This, I believe, is what first drew Burgundians to Oregon and continues to sustain the ever-growing ties between the regions.”

Do you want access to rare and outstanding reds from Napa Valley? Join the Robb Report 672 Wine Club today.