WineMatch eNewsletter: Matching wines you like!

Girard started researching Oregon's climate data and studying soil maps, weather maps, sun maps and wind maps along with days of sunlight and degree days, which was information he found in the library. This was, of course, before the days and convenience of surfing the World Wide Web. After intense research, he concluded that the ideal location for him would be from about eight miles north of where Benton-Lane now sits and about eight miles south of it, in between Eugene and Corvallis along the western foothills.

"The weather data showed that it's warmer in this area, and more benevolent weather with less wind and less storms," Girard said. He believes now that the reason for the better weather is because Prairie Mountain, that's due west of the Benton-Lane property, protects that area and actually drives the storms around the property. There are many times that Girard has stood at the top of the vineyard and seen rain in Eugene and rain in Albany while the sun was beaming down on Benton-Lane.

One hundred years ago, the Benton-Lane property was a sheep ranch appropriately named Sunnymount Ranch, and luckily for Girard, the Sunnymount Ranch was for sale when he was looking for the perfect Pinot property. Girard noted that the second reason why Benton-Lane wines have been categorized in the Top 100 Wines of the World more than any other winery in Oregon is because of the dedication and diligence of his crew. He's a firm believer in the 80/20 rule."For any endeavor, you'll get 80 percent of the quality with 20 percent of the effort and that last 20 percent of the quality is 80 percent of the effort," Girard said. Girard has managed to achieve that last 20 percent of the quality by hiring people who are fanatic about what they do. Not only does their ideal location allow them to produce fruit that is more complete, but he also has employees that have a true passion for wine while displaying the utmost pride in what they do.

Benton-Lane makes all of the Pinot sisters: Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and Pinot Chardonnay, which used to be the real name of Chardonnay. All four varieties have the same parentage. they all grow beautifully in the Willamette Valley, and Girard believes that Oregon is growing and producing some of the best Chardonnay in the world. I've had the Benton-Lane Chardonnay, and I believe that they've set the bar very high for future vintages of this wine. With that said, I admit I never knew Chardonnay was related to Pinot until my conversation with Girard. I followed Girard out to the vineyard, and we tasted the Pinot Noir right off the vine. Divinely sweet, he explained that the brix (the sugars) had reached their optimal level in just the last week alone. Along with being beautifully ripened and optimally sweetened, today was the perfect day to begin harvesting the grapes for their First Class Pinot Noir and their Pinot Gris.

The harvested grapes go into large labeled bins that get hauled to Benton-Lane's state of the art crush pad. I noticed the Pinot Noir grapes were sorted by hand to remove leaves and immature clusters while they rode on a conveyer belt. The belt led them to a machine that diligently removed whole berries from their stems and the stems came out of one chute while the whole berries were dropped out of another chute. The berries were directly dropped into a large white bin that is called a pot. Then the Pinot Noir grapes ferment in these 1 1/4 ton open top pots while the skins, pulp and seeds float to the top. Those are then "punched down" by hand to acquire optimum extraction of flavor and color of the skins, and once a pot passes the fermentation inspection, the juice goes into barrels. The First Class Pinot Noir has its own barrel room with a specially

designed system that allows the wine in the barrels to be stirred without getting air into the barrel. This system holds each barrel on a set of wheels, so the juice gets stirred by rotating the barrel, it's pure ingenuity.

The freshly harvested Pinot Gris whole grape clusters were loaded into a press, stems and all. The presser forced the juice from the grapes, and the juice dripped down into a large tray which ensured minimal contact with the skins because they have a bitter compound that can effect the quality of the wine. The stems, skins and seeds were released into a different tray. Girard noted that nothing gets wasted at Benton-Lane. Everything is put into a compost pile and is worked back into the soil on the property. The juice from the tray then gets gently sucked through a hose into one of their temperature controlled stainless steel fermenting tanks. The temperature is kept at a very cool level so the fresh flavors and aromas of the fruit are maintained.To add complexity and depth to the finished product, a small portion of the fruit is barrel fermented. Only a little is used so it doesn't overpower the fresh fruit flavors. Their highly regarded 2010 Pinot Gris is a crisp refreshing wine with apple blossom and lime aromas, melon, peach and apple flavors on the palate, and a smooth lingering finish.

The 2011 harvest has been challenging for sure, but the excitement in Girard's voice and the smile on his face translated good news, and I have no doubt that the 2011 vintage from Benton-Lane will be nothing short of spectacular. Girard and his crew work hard at growing, maintaining, harvesting and producing wines from the Pinot varietal, they are what I like to call, "Pinot Perfectionists".

Benton-Lane's beautiful tasting room is open daily from March up to Christmas from 11 am to 5 pm. In January and February, they are open Monday through Friday from 11 am to 5 pm.

Reprinted with permission of Eugene Daily News