Oregon Wine is more than just Pinot Noir, Aaron Lieberman Winemaker from Iris Vineyards stops by to talk about his work, his wines and his winemaking community.<\/p>\n
Sure, Oregon Wine is world-famous for its Pinot Noir<\/strong>.\u00a0 And rightly so, as the area produces incredible expressions of the varietal.\u00a0 But that’s not all they can do.\u00a0 Award-winning winemaker Aaron Lieberman<\/strong> wants the world to taste and discover all of the incredible wines from the area including Iris Vineyards’s new Pinot Gris<\/strong> which has won acclaim several years in a row.<\/p>\n Today, Winemaker Aaron Lieberman from Iris Vineyards sits down over zoom to talk about his inspirations, his favorite wines, food pairings and what’s next for Oregon Wine.<\/p>\n The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0 Find the whole conversation on YouTube.<\/p>\n There’s so much to go over with you because you’re in a great area of Oregon. <\/p>\n The vintage we won that on was the 2020, and I think our Pinot Gris is fairly consistent. So I actually personally felt that the 2021 vintage was better than the 2020. What I think is going on there is that in our growing area Southwest of Eugene we have our vineyard in what’s called the Lorane Valley<\/strong>. We’re a relatively high elevation vineyard compared to the rest of the Willamette Valley. We get a lot more hang time on our Pinot Gris, which allows more flavor development and preservation of acidity, as well as slower and lower accumulation of sugar. So we ended up with a higher acid, lower alcohol wine that’s very expressive in terms of fruit flavors.<\/p>\n
\nLast year we had the privilege of covering the 2022 McMinnville Wine Classic<\/strong>, your Pinot Gris one Best in Show and Best White varietal.<\/p>\n<\/h4>\n
According to press announcements it’s the first time ever for a Pinot Gris. What was it about that bottle and that year that brought you so much acclaim?<\/h4>\n