The connection between Oregon and France has been well-documented since Willamette Valley’s emergence as a wine region, but for Greg McClellan and Mélissa Rondeau that relationship is far more personal. It was their shared passion for French heritage, food, and wine which led them to create Suzor Wines. Melissa hails from French-speaking Québec and built a career working in restaurants in London and Paris. Greg grew up in Northern California, but he spent his childhood visiting his mother’s family in the Loire Valley, where they would visit local vignerons to buy unlabeled bottles of table wine. These youthful experiences inspired the couple to call their winery Suzor, the maiden name of Greg’s grandmother. As an adult, Greg threw himself headlong into wine production, working with some of the leading lights of Oregon wine (Ponzi Vineyards and Hamacher Cellars). Afterward, he traveled to Burgundy to study Viticulture and Enology in Beaune, further honing his craft. Upon his return, Greg sought to create his own wine and Suzor Wines was born with five barrels in the 2011 vintage. Though it has grown since then, Suzor is still very much a family operation, with only 600-700 cases in production every year and every element done by Greg and Melissa.

Greg named his flagship wine for the 14th century stone lookout tower that sat in his grandmother’s backyard in the Loire, serving as the family’s garden shed. The wine itself is made with fruit from two vineyards in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA with wildly different profiles, though both are farmed with equal care and no herbicides or pesticides. The first is Menefee Vineyard, a cool site in the Northwest corner of the AVA, close to the coastal range and composed of volcanic Jory soil. Planted by Greg’s mother, the fruit here is fresh and lean with plenty of acid structure. The other vineyard is Fennwood, in the Southeast portion of the AVA by the Dundee Hills. The marine sediments that make up the soil here yield the kind of deep-colored, broad textured Pinot Noirs that Yamhill-Carlton is best known for. The blend of these two contrasting fruit sources gives The Tower the balance and complexity that makes it so compelling.

The fruit for this 2015 was fermented with indigenous yeasts, then aged in French oak barrels (20% new) for 18 months before bottling. With only the slightest bricking at the edge of a deep purple/garnet center, you might not believe the wine is five years old. The nose delivers a luxurious mix of scents after 30 minutes in a decanter, beginning with Mirabelle plum, wild blackberries, sweet baking spice, pipe tobacco, and black peppercorn. The palate is medium-bodied with a dark cassis core, a silky elegant texture and long finish with lush, smooth tannins. I recommend serving this at 60 degrees in Burgundy stems alongside a herb-roasted chicken or seared thick-cut pork chop. Once again, Oregon Pinot over-delivers! It never gets old!