The historically significant winery in Roseburg in the Umpqua Valley in the US state of Oregon was founded in 1961 by winegrowing pioneer Richard Sommer (1929-2009). His mother had grown apples in Ashland, California. Sommer studied agriculture at the University of California and decided to emigrate to Oregon in 1957 to pursue viticulture. He was one of the first to use European varieties, planted the first Pinot Noir vines in Oregon and marketed the first vintage in 1967, specialising in particular in Riesling. The vineyards comprised 20 hectares of vines. In some years, he sold his grapes to other winegrowers and did not produce any wine himself. Due to his viticultural achievements, he was also known as the "Father of Oregon Wine".
The winery was acquired by Jeff Dyson and Susan DeMara in 2003. Dyson had previously worked at the Californian wineries Pine Ridge Winery and Mondavi. The red wine varieties Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Tempranillo, Syrah and St. Laurent, as well as the white wine varieties Riesling, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Blanc are cultivated. The wines are produced according to non-invasive principles with as little intervention as possible. According to Jeff Dyson, the exceptional quality can be explained as follows: "The trick to special wines is not to use any tricks".
The winemaker travels to Europe three times a year to produce wines with winemaker friends in the Mosel region (Germany), Priorato (Spain), Roussillon (France), Sicily (Italy) and Burgenland (Austria). In 2014, HillCrest was invited to a gala wine tasting organised by Klosterneuburg Abbey in Lower Austria to celebrate its 900th anniversary. Among the participants were renowned wineries from Germany(Schloss Johannisberg), Switzerland, Italy(Donnafugata), France, Portugal(Fonseca) and Spain(Marqués de Riscal). The wines presented by HillCrest were Syrah "San Roc" 2006, Cabernet Franc "NONIHC" 2007 and Cabernet Sauvignon "MASSIMO" 2008.
Picture: HillCrest Winery
