In the summer of 2000, Greg Sanders knocked on the door of an old farm house sitting at the top of the Dundee Hills in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The house was just up the gravel road from a few of Oregon's most notable wineries: Archery Summit, Domaine Drouhin Oregon and Domaine Serene. Surrounding the farm house was a small vineyard, self-rooted in 1980, that over the years had become known for the quality of its fruit. St. Innocent, Panther Creek and Torii Mor, had all purchased fruit from this site, bottling wines and designating them as "White Rose Vineyard". Having been an impassioned fan of pinot noir for many years, it was Greg's dream to own a vineyard from which he could produce artisanal, hand-made wines of outstanding quality. His search had led him to the top of this hill, and when he left, he took with him the deed to a dream. WinesThe objective of our winemaking is to present the terroir of our vineyards in a pure, focused style, enabling an expression of elegance and clarity that only great vineyards can achieve. Aromatic complexity and depth of flavors that demonstrate  .
 VineyardsPlanted in 1980 to own-rooted Pommard clone pinot noir, the 10-acre White Rose Vineyard is one of the oldest and most storied vineyards in Oregon. Planted on east-southeast facing slopes of volcanic Jory soils in the heart of the Dundee Hills, the vines consistently produce fruit of great character and complexity. The vineyard sits at the top of the hill at 870 feet elevation, overlooking much of the Willamette Valley. This hilltop location allows us to maximize "hang time", the length of the time the clusters are maturing on the plant, which results in greater flavor development while maintaing balanced sugars and acid.
In 2009, we acquired an additional 4 acres of vineyard immediately north of the original site. This vineyard was planted in 2001 to Dijon clone 115 pinot noir grafted to American rootstock.The site shows tremendous potential and is producing more substantial wines each year.
In addition to our own vineyards, we purchase fruit from of number of the Willamette Valley's top growers in the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA, Dundee Hills AVA and Chehalem Mountains AVA. .
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GREG SANDERS | Owner Greg grew up on the east coast and moved to Southern California when he finished college to start his career in manufacturing. After more than a decade of successfully building a company in the aerospace industry, Greg's penchant to learn something new and challenge himself in a new walk of life got the better of him. In 1995 he began taking courses at UC Davis in viticulture and enology with the hopes of someday owning a small vineyard. After several scouting trips to Oregon in search of land capable of producing world-class pinot noir, Greg finally realized his dream in 2000. He purchased an existing 10-acre vineyard called White Rose Vineyard and started producing wine in 2001. After 7 vintages as winemaker, Greg passed the torch to Jesus Guillen in 2008.
JESUS GUILLEN | Winemaker Jesus began working with Greg in the vineyard in 2002. Because Greg frequently had to return to Southern California to spend time with his family and manage his other business, he relied on Jesus to manage the day-to-day winemaking procedures in his absence. It didn't take long for Greg to realize Jesus .
News & Events
EVENTSThanksgiving weekend in Wine Country Join us at White Rose Estate from 11-5pm November 25th to 27th to taste current releases from the highly acclaimed 2009 vintage. Tasting fee is $15 and refundable upon joining one of our wine clubs.
Please check back regularly to see upcoming events. { Press }Wine Advocate Issue #197 - October 31, 2011, reviewed by Jay Miller "Old vines, low yields, and a willingness to stretch the envelope have made White Rose Estate one of the premier producers of American Pinot Noir." - Jay Miller The 2009 White Rose Vineyard "Whole Cluster" receives 96 Points, the top scoring Oregon wine of the vintage!
Wine Spectator Insider - January 19, 2011 White Rose "Dundee Hills" Appellation Series 2008 receives 91 points. Wine Advocate Issue #191, October 31, 2010, reviewed by Jay Miller "My first visit to White Rose was an eye opener," Jay Miller. White Rose receives two 94+ scores (2 of the top 5 Oregon pinots from the stellar 2008 vintage. PinotFile: 2010 Oregon Pinot Noir All-Americans First Team Our 2008 WRE-Whole Cluster and 2008 WRE- White Rose Vineyard pinots receive praise and are recognized as 2 of the top 11 Oregon pinots of the vintage! "Sanders' dreams of Grand Cru quality wines from Oregon have been realized." The Prince of Pinot To learn more about more about Oregon's First Team selections, visit: http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/1001/ To read the full review on White Rose Estate wines, visit: http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/992/ { News }Harvest is upon us! We received our first grapes on October 25th and have should have everything in by November 6th. While it has been a late vintage, October has brought great Pinot weather and the fruit looks very good coming into the winery. The grapes have mature flavors with balanced acids and sugars. We are excited to see what the 2011 vintage will bring.  |
Copyright © 2010 White Rose Estate 6250 Northeast Hilltop Lane Dayton, OR 97114 tel 503-864-2328 fax 503-864-4460 email tastingroom@whiterosewines.com
