New Winery, Classic Wines from Willamette's Nicolas-Jay
Here’s a riddle: when a Californian and a Burgundian want to make wine together, where do they go?
A: Oregon, of course! That is, if you’re Jay Boberg and Jean-Nicolas Méo, owners of Nicolas-Jay Winery, where they produce sophisticated Pinot and Chardonnay in Newberg, Oregon.
The two longtime friends met in college through Jay’s sister while Jean-Nicolas Méo was studying in the U.S. They each went on to successful careers in their own fields—Jean-Nicolas returned to Burgundy to make wine at his family’s celebrated Domaine Méo-Camuzet and Jay Boberg was a well-known music industry executive in LA, who then made wine in Napa Valley.
So why Oregon? Jay says, “We saw the vast potential in Oregon and were excited about working with new terroir.” What they found was a cool climate with a coastal range that protects the Willamette Valley from being too cold; ample rain in the winter; and a dry, warm growing season. The Valley’s unique soils contribute to the Oregonness of its wines: marine sedimentary soils from the glaciers and ocean bottom as well as jory red volcanic soils. All this adds up to the je ne se quois that constitutes Oregon wines, and Pinot in particular—elegant and ethereally textured, with generous fruit aromatics. They spent two years there before investing, visiting more than 200 different vineyards and wineries. They tasted a ton of wine from young vineyards and different AVAs. “Ultimately,” Jay says, “we were drawn by the world-class terroir.”
In 2013, they took the plunge and began making wine there, bringing all their varied and vast experience to the winemaking process. The terroir may have been new to them, but they’d done their homework, and they certainly weren’t newbie winemakers. And the wines have shown that deft winemaking and attunement to their vineyards right out of the gate. A great wine to start to get to know their style is their 2017 Nicolas-Jay Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which we have a great price on and which has been garnering praise from critics. Decanter’s description of the wine helps explain the house style: “One can see the Méo-Camuzet influence, albeit with a softer generosity;” that is, a Burgundian is at the wheel, but he lets the Oregon terroir speak its own language. They source their fruit from eight excellent organic/biodynamic vineyards with old vines. I find this to be one of the coolest things about Oregon: sustainable farming is the rule, not the exception.
Now they’re seven vintages in, and they’ve just built and launched a brand-spanking new winery, which came online just in time to process its first harvest this year. But all this happened while weathering the pandemic and the extreme fires that have been burning through the region and the whole West Coast. Jay says, “Building a new winery is not an easy thing to do in a pandemic, but we’re very excited about having our own place. It’s the difference between having two roommates or your house to yourself.” After years of making wine at Adelsheim, they finally get their own space: it’s a gravity-fed, small-production winery in an old cattle barn on 53 total acres, on the north face of the Dundee Hills. It’s built into a natural amphitheater, which means you get 360-degree views of the site that will hold their future vineyard.
Despite the setbacks of 2020, the winery launch marks a moment when both Nicolas-Jay and the Willamette Valley are brimming with potential and excitement for the future. Their Associate Winemaker Tracy Kendall is excited about the quality of this vintage. Here’s her harvest report: “Low yields and near perfect summer temperatures for ripening brought harvest a few weeks earlier than anticipated shortly after Labor Day. We brought in our first Pinot Noir from our Estate vineyard, Bishop Creek in Yamhill-Carlton, a small lot of perfectly ripened 777 Pinot Noir. It’s a unique block in that it is on phylloxera susceptible rootstock that was originally own-rooted Sauvignon Blanc top-grafted many years ago to Pinot Noir. It builds a complex, deeply purple, beautiful Pinot that is happily fermenting in the winery. We have also pulled in some Chardonnay from a Dundee Hills site and are looking forward to seeing more fruit in the coming week as the rain clears the skies and the sunshine returns.”
And we’ve been seeing amazing wines lately from Oregon in general, where it seems like the quality is increasing every vintage. Jay says, “No question that the benchmark coming out of Oregon is going up the quality ladder, thanks to the evolution of both the vineyards and the winemakers. The first vines in Oregon were planted in the 1960s, and these are now vineyards that have decades and decades of life and root systems. Pioneers like Dick Erath, Eyrie, Ponzi, Adelsheim now have 40 to 50 years of experience. They didn’t come out of UC Davis. Just figured out as they went along. And there’s a current influx of talent. A rising tide raises all ships.”
No doubt that Jean-Nicolas and Jay are playing their part in this region’s exciting evolution. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Oregon, and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on the region from the sidelines (with a glass of Nicolas-Jay in my hand).
- Kate Soto