Location, location, location! From the onset we felt that Lenné was destined to be a great site. In the Northern Willamette Valley, great sites are characterized by well drained, low vigor sedimentary and volcanic soils. They also tend to be steep mountain sites between 300 and 600 degrees elevation, with a southerly aspect. It doesn’t mean that great wine can’t come from other sites in certain years, but consistently great Pinot Noir in this part of the world comes from specific sites.

So we chose Lenné because it fit all the criteria for making great wine. We also liked the neighbors, Willakenzie Estate across the street, Deux Vert below and Shea, Solena, Soter and Beau Freres close by. 

So in 2001, Steve Lutz and Scott Huffman who both worked at Anne Amie, layed out the vineyard and planted the first 10 acres of Pinot Noir. The 10 acres was laid out into three blocks made up of Pommard, 777 and 115. The grapes were planted on 7x3 spacing without irrigation. The site proved to be difficult from the beginning, stressing young vines and producing  a high mortality, with nearly 35% of plants lost the first year. The steep slope also proved difficult to work safely and destruction from deer impeded young vine growth.

In 2002 a deer fence was built and Steve and Karen and Scott met Duncan Cambell, a Corvallis Oregon businessman. Duncan gave the needed additional financial input to carry the project forward and together they formed Lenné.

In 2003 the entire vineyard was pruned back to two buds to enhance the root development of the young vines and an additional 2.5 acre block of Pommard was planted behind what is now the tasting room. The block succumbed to the record 2003 heat and all but a handful of plants were lost. In 2004 the block was replanted along with an additional 2.5 acre block of 667 and 114.

In 2006 we released our first wine, the 2004 LeNez Pinot Noir.

The Vineyard

Click the picture above to see the
arial view of each