Oregon’s newest Winery to Open Thanksgiving Weekend
November 20, 2009 by
Filed under Wine
Soléna and Grand Cru Estates Successfully Combines Old World and Modern Concepts
November 20, Yamhill, Ore: >> Laurent Montalieu and Danielle Andrus Montalieu together with partners Steve and Marian Bailey of Bailey Estates Vineyard will officially open their revolutionary new winemaking facility to the public over the course of Thanksgiving Weekend, 2009. The winery, located in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA (American Viticultural Area) is home to two winemaking enterprises: the members-only Grand Cru Estates as well as the Montalieus’ Soléna Estate brand.
From 11:00 – 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 27-29, visitors will receive a 20% discount on mixed or unmixed cases of Soléna wines. The $20 tasting fee includes an Oregon Riedel Pinot Noir Glass and tastings of single vineyard Pinot Noirs as well as Pinot Gris.
Set among biodynamic vineyards, and gardens with banks of lavender shrubs and flowers, the new Soléna and Grand Cru Estates winery is reminiscent of an Oregon barn.
The tasting room with custom woodwork and expansive windows has bucolic views of the Grand Cru Estate vineyard and Oregon wine country. For private functions, the dining room with its vaulted, hand-hewed beamed ceiling includes a deck and massive, floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace. Grand Cru Estates Culinary Director, Chef Philippe Boulot, designed the adjacent commercial kitchen.
The winemaking quarters, designed by Laurent, are equally impressive and include a unique open air fermentation hall enclosed only by galvanized steel 1” x 1” grates which will be used for special events and gatherings in the summer months. State-of-the-art winemaking equipment is utilized at all stages of winemaking and the barrel room is dug into the side of the hill to create a stable, temperature-controlled environment for wine ageing.
Banks of solar power cells render the facility grid-neutral. For further sustainability, salvaged wood was used for the dining room floors and rainwater is collected and used for irrigation.
About Grand Cru Estates: Unique in Oregon, Grand Cru Estates is an elite wine club which allows members the opportunity to engage in the creation of making a barrel of ultra-premium Pinot Noir alongside the premier winemaking team of Laurent Montalieu and Tony Rynders, formerly of Domaine Serene.
About Soléna Estate: In 2000 Laurent Montalieu and Danielle Andrus Montalieu purchased an 80- acre estate as their wedding gift to each other and registered with premium nurseries for six different clones of Pinot Noir vines as wedding gifts. While waiting for the vines to mature, the Montalieus purchased fruit from various vineyards, and named their new label Soléna, a combination of two names that signify the sun and the moon, after their daughter. Today, Soléna is known for premium, quality wines hand crafted from select vineyard sites in differing terroirs of Oregon and Washington. Current production includes Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah and late harvest Riesling.
About the partners: Laurent and Danielle have a combined presence of thirty years in the Oregon wine industry with business ventures that span winemaking, vineyards and wine retail. They are proprietors of Soléna Estate and co-proprietors of NW Wine Company, NW Wine Bar and Hyland Vineyards. As active members of the Oregon wine community, they sit on many boards to promote the Oregon wine industry, including Oregon Pinot Camp, Salud!, and the International Pinot Noir Celebration. Steve and Marian Bailey bring their business acumen to the venture, allowing the creation of the new estate and winery. The Bailey’s own and manage a 26-acre estate vineyard, producing small lot premium quality wine grapes in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. Currently CFO for FLIR Systems, Inc. Steve Bailey is now turning his wine growing hobby into a new venture.
