The winery, established about 19 years ago, is making a switch in production. Some of the lower-end, economical wines will vanished, to be replaced by higher quality, premium blends and single vineyard wines.
Jim Bernau, president of WVV and chairman of the board of directors, said his company is in the third year of a long range plan to shift to higher-end wines.
"We have a winery staff, a team, that is best at producing higher end wines," Bernau said. "Over the past three years, we've made the effort to acquire vineyards that reflect that quality. It has cost us a lot of money but now we're essentially a new company, a new enterprise."
The mission of the revitalized vineyard is to make world class Pinot Noir, Bordeaux and Rhone blends.
The gradual change has not gone unnoticed. Bernau said he's received complaints from consumers who want the lower-end white wines. The winery fielded many complaints from customers who wanted Edelweiss, an inexpensive white wine blend, returned to the line-up after it was eliminated this year.
"It's the winery of the past and some of that wine is now gone," Bernau said. "We want to put our energy into making better wines and let some of the lower-end products go.
"We want to be admired and enjoyed around the world as the premium producer of Pinot Noirs," Bernau added. "We're going to achieve that too, or die trying."
In order to accomplish the goal, WVV hired Dobbes full-time in 1996 to take the winery in a new direction. Dobbes studied in Europe, and spent time at Elk Cove Vineyards, Eola Hills and Hinman Vineyards. In addition, he also serves as winemaker for Torii Mor Winery in McMinnville.
In the past few years, Dobbes has weaned out some white wines from the company's three labels and focused on obtaining better quality fruit, changing grower contracts so he can direct some of the viticulture practices, and experimenting with a variety of grape clones and blends.
Some of the wines soon to vanish include the dry Gewurztraminer under the Tualatin Estate label, the Christmas wine, Nog, a lower-end Chardonnay and an experimental blend of Merlot and Syrah. The white wine Edelweiss is no longer made.
