Walter Scott
Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Ken Pahlow
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Karosis
Walter Scott Wines is a small Oregon winery specializing in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc from exceptional vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Their focus is to produce wines of elegance and purity, while conveying transparency of site and the character of the vintage.
The winery is located in the Eola-Amity Hills, surrounded by some of the Willamette Valley's most historic vineyards and overlooking the Cascade Range. Ken and Erica's love for winemaking is apparent in everything they do. They pour everything they have (including their life savings) into what they do and it shows.
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"I worked at St. Innocent winery and got together with Erika in 2007. She was a sommelier and wine educator. I loved Burgundy and Oregon. We put all our money into the business in 2009, and were given space to work out of the Patricia Green winery. I worked for Evening Land with Dominique Lafon [when they borrowed a corner of their facility in Salem] and left in 2012. We now lease winery space [from the Casteel family in Eola-Amity Hills] at Bethel Heights, living in a mobile home for three years. We've just put a new one in. We rented a winery down there. We did 35-tons in 2012. In that year we were getting up at 5 .a.m, went to our daytime jobs and worked on our own wines in the evening. The 2014s are the first that whereby we have not been working for somebody else at the same time, but we sell and deliver everything ourselves. We are now producing around 1,380 cases per year." - Ken Pahlow
The name - Walter Scott - honors two men who meant the world to Ken. Walter, Ken's grandfather, was a flight engineer for Trans World Airlines. Walter always strived to make his dreams become reality. He was dynamic and adventurous; he did everything from building homes to riding motorcycles to flying planes. His influence taught Ken that there are no limits to what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it. Scott was Ken's nephew. Although his time was short, Scott was fearless. Much like his great grandfather, he never shied away from anything. Scott’s departure taught Ken that life is very short and you must act on your ambitions because you never know when your chance will pass.
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There are two main soils in the Willamette Valley:
1. Volcanic Basalt based clay: found in higher elevations, this retains water better, thus making it a generally cooler soil. The resulting wines have higher acid and a lower PH. The wines are generally more red-fruited.
2. Marine sediment: ancient ocean bed, compact sand and and fossilized material. It drains very well and has almost no water retention. These soils tend to be at lower elevations. The resulting wines have higher PH/lower acid. The wines are generally more blue/black fruited with a silky texture.
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We work with mostly organically the farmed grapes. The only certified organic vineyard is Temperance Hill. Most of the organic vineyards farm to LIVE sustainable levels but many are organic and not certified.
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The goal with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is to allow the site to shine through. We pick earlier with lower PH and have tight polished wines that integrate well with oak and age. There is potential to make world class Chardonnay & Pinot Noir in Oregon when we put the same care in farming and the winery as we do with Pinot Noir. We’re lucky to work with amazing people who take their sites seriously. - Ken Pahlow
Chardonnay
The white wines at Walter Scott are all whole cluster pressed and after settling go straight to barrel with substantial lees. Everything is barrel fermented with indigenous yeast. The range of new oak barrels is around 40%. The wines are stirred minimally and 100% malo is achieved. The wines remain aging in barrel for 11 months before finishing in stainless steel.Pinot Noir
The red wines at Walter Scott are de-stemmed - typically 100%. Of course there are always exceptions - sometimes up to 15% whole bunches are added in the center of the fermenter. Fermentation kicks off naturally with indigenous yeasts. Ferments are done in two ton lots. The wines are mostly pumped over, with some gentle pigeage at the heart of fermentation to manage structure and texture. After fermentation, the wines are pressed off, settled, and put to barrel. 30-40% of the barrels are new and all are from French cooperages. The length of time in barrel varies, with the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir staying in barrel for around 10 months and the single vineyards staying in barrel for around 15 months. The wines are racked once in July to harmonize the blends. Sulfur is added at the destemmer, after malolactic fermentation, and at bottling.All the wines are treated with similar care and quality. The difference in price structure is based on vine age and vine quality.
Red Wines
Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
The youngest vines of all the Pinot Noir sites we work with go into this.
Pinot Noir "Cuvee Ruth" Willamette Valley
Cuvée Ruth is a wine dedicated to the memory of Ruth and Irv Kantor, Ken and Erica's partner Sue's parents. This wine is a thoughtful selection of some of their favorite barrels in the winery. The Pinot Noir is a blend of clones from some of our top vineyards including Freedom Hill, Clos de Oiseaux, Bieze and Eola Springs Vineyards. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, 30% of which are new. The wine is unfined and unfiltered.
Pinot Noir Clos des Oiseaux
In 2011 Ken and Erica began leasing a beautiful 2.8 acre vineyard on the southeastern slope of the Eola-Amity Hills and began a journey with this special piece of land. Today, the land is owned by Kecia & John Keller, who upon falling in love with the site, purchased it and moved back to Oregon in the Fall of 2013. As of the 2014 growing year the vineyard is organically farmed without irrigation, with Kecia overseeing the farming. Fermentation is done with ambient yeasts, 20% whole cluster and then aged for 15 months in 40% new French oak barrels.
Pinot Noir Freedom Hill
In 2012 Ken and Erica started getting grapes from the iconic Freedom Hill Vineyard, which Ken had worked with through St. Innocent for over 10 years. The vineyard was planted in 1982 by Dan and Helen Dusschee who own and farm the vineyard sustainably with their son Dustin. Located in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, the Freedom Hill Vineyard is planted on Bellpine loam soils. The soils coupled with meticulous farming, create consistent, structured and powerful wines. Fermentation is done with ambient yeasts, 15% whole cluster and then aged for 15 months in 35% new French oak barrels.
Pinot Noir Seven Springs
Widely considered one of the best vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Ken and Erica were honored to be selected to work with fruit from this famed vineyard, one of only a few wineries in the valley thanks to Rajat Parr of Evening Land Vineyards who believes in what they are doing. Walter Scott sources one acre from the original 1984 plantings of un-grafted Pinot Noir vines found in the lower half of the vineyard. Fermentation is done with ambient yeasts, 20% whole cluster and then aged for 15 months in barrel, of which 35% is new.
Pinot Noir "Sojourner Vineyard" Eola-Amity Hills
On the southern end of the Eola-Amity Hills, facing west towards the coast range sits the Sojourner Vineyard. At 650 feet in elevation, the site overlooks the valley and surrounding vineyards. After over 30 years with Eola Springs Vineyard, Dennis and Thelma Peseau found the Sojourner property and developed it into an incredible 16 acres planted to three clones of Pinot Noir: Dijon 115, Pommard and Wadenswill and 3.26 acres of Chardonnay. The soils are a rocky, volcanic clay with lots of round stones littered throughout. Fermentation is done with ambient yeasts, 30% whole cluster and then aged for 15 months in 35% new French oak barrels.
Pinot Noir "Dumb Ox" Eola-Amity Hills
In the heart of the Eola Springs Vineyard is a single block of un-grafted Pommard clone Pinot Noir. The block, nicknamed Dumb Ox, was named after Thomas Aquinas, a theologian philosopher known for being both brilliant and enigmatic, just like the Pinot Noir from this block. The vineyard faces south and is located on the western slope of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. The block itself sits on a ribbon of marine sediment that runs through this site, rare for the Eola-Amity Hills.
The wine is fermented with indigenous yeast, aged in 35% new oak and is not filtered or fined prior to bottling.
Pinot Noir, "Sequitur Vineyard" Ribbon Ridge AVA
In 2010, Mike Etzel and Carey Critchlow planted a 12 acre Pinot Noir vineyard directly adjacent to their Beaux Freres’ Upper Terrace in the Ribbon Ridge AVA. What makes this site special is a forest of Douglas Fir enclosing three sides of the vineyard that gives this gentle south slope protection from winds and helps preserve its unique terroir. The virgin marine sedimentary soils in the vineyard have only been dry farmed with organic and biodynamic principles to preserve the native ground cover.
A note on the 2020 vintage
2020 was a heartbreaking vintage for Ken & Erica amidst a pandemic, social unrest, fires and smoke and labor shortages. Fires decimated the area and left their Pinot Noir vines unsalvageable. For this vintage, they made only two Chardonnays - eight barrels of Freedom Hill and a composite cuvée Bois-Moi (or, “drink me,”).
White Wines
Willamette Valley Chardonnay Bois-Moi 2020
This cuvée is a blend of grapes typically destined for single vineyard Chardonnays in “normal” vintages (including Freedom Hill & Loubejac in the Willamette, Hyland in McMinnville and Koosah, Seven Springs and X Novo in the Eola-Amity Hills.
Willamette Valley Chardonnay la Combe Verte
A blend of the youngest vines of all the Chardonnay sites they work with go into this.
Chardonnay "Cuvée Anne"
The Cuvée Anne Chardonnay is blended from Ken and Erica's best Chardonnay sites, including Freedom Hill, X Novo, Sojourner and Vojtilla Vineyards. It is a reserve blend that represents their vision of Willamette Valley Chardonnay.
The juice was fermented with ambient yeast, minimal bâtonnage and aged in a mix of new and neutral 500 & 350 liter barrels for 12 months. The wine is finally racked and blended to stainless steel for an additional 3 months prior to bottling.
Chardonnay "Freedom Hill"
The Dusschee Family has been growing Chardonnay longer than most, putting lots of care into growing the best fruit possible since 1981. In 2012 Ken and Erica were lucky enough to start working with their fruit, getting access to one acre of Chardonnay and one acre of Pinot Noir. Today they now get three separate blocks of Chardonnay and three blocks of Pinot Noir in an effort to diversify the clones and blocks for co-fermentation. The site is now farmed by second generation Dustin Duscchee who is farming sustainably without irrigation, and is now moving towards organic.
The wine is fermented with ambient yeast and minimal bâtonnage. It is aged in a new 500L puncheon, a once-filled puncheon and neutral puncheon for 12 months. The wine is racked and blended to stainless steel for an additional 3 months prior to bottling.
Chardonnay "Vojtilla Vineyard" Chehalem Mountains
This little vineyard nestled in the Chehalem Mountains, was meticulously planted in 1990 to a plethora of varietals, but the Pinot Noir & Chardonnay have caught the attention of winemakers. The vineyard has a Southeast exposure, sliding down Ladd Hill on a gentle slope, and is so tidy that you feel as if you should take your shoes off to walk in it.
Chardonnay "X Novo Vineyard" Eola-Amity Hills
In 2010 famed California Cabernet Winemaker, Craig Williams came to Oregon and purchased a few pieces of land and began planting vineyards. What he did would turn heads as he took an incredible site, facing east in the Eola-Amity Hills, and planted it to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. (But that's not what got people talking.) The clonal selection that he planted was the special part. The Chardonnay block that Ken and Erica work with is planted to fifteen different clones of Chardonnay. It is one of the most unique sites in Oregon, if not the West Coast.
This wine is fermented with ambient yeast and minimal bâtonnage. It is aged in a mix of new and neutral 500 & 350 liter barrels for 12 months. The wine is racked and blended to stainless steel for an additional 3 months prior to bottling.
“When I am asked if there were any “great discoveries” in Oregon, I would mention “Walter Scott Wines” without hesitation. This is a small bijou operation run by Ken Pahlow and Erica Landon and their story is one of essentially risking everything to pursue their dream. If their wines are of this quality, then their sacrifices have been worthwhile - good news for baby Lucy who joined us for the tasting (though her only comment about the wines was the odd dribble).”