Gran Moraine (and Zena Crown) winemaker Shane Moore

The last winery stop of our 2018 summer Willamette Valley trip was to see Shane Moore of Gran Moraine and Zena Crown. You can read about our other winery visits on the trip here (Fausse Piste and Martin Woods), here (Tendril and Belle Pente) and here (Penner-Ash and Trisaetum). I’ve written about and mentioned Shane several times on Good Vitis, and he warrants yet another piece because he’s both that interesting and that good. Shane has been making wine since his teens, and he has such joy about him that you just couldn’t imagine him ever doing anything else.

The PG version of how he got into winemaking is that in preparation of leaving home for college, Shane learned how to make household wine. This made him a popular kid at college, where he learned more about wine making. After graduating, he decided to see if he could make wine the professionally, and now he does.

Shane has made wine in several corners of the world, including Israel. I wrote a piece about his experience there and it’s a fun story worth reading. Gran Moraine and Zena Crown are owned by Jackson Family Wines, the latter part of KJ’s Spire Collection, its most prestigious collection of wineries around the world. KJ isn’t your typical corporate owner, and when you meet Shane you tend to forget he works for a corporation altogether and assume he runs his own boutique winery. They give him the room to do his thing because they trust him, and he has their trust because he does things well. The winery, and both labels, are boutique wines in quantity, quality and price.

During one of the evenings of our Willamette visit, Shane came over to our Airbnb and had dinner with us. He brought a few wines with him, including a chardonnay from Canada that he proudly told us was a great wine at a great price. And it was very good; we all enjoyed it. A day later at a different winery, the dinner with Shane came up in conversation with the winemaker, who knows Shane, and before I could mention the Canadian chardonnay, he wondered if Shane “brought a bottle of that Canadian chardonnay he loves so much.” I told him that he did. “I figured he would. Guy can’t shut about it. Wants everyone to try it.” It’s a good example of when Shane gets interested in something, he’s instantly on a slippery slope that ends in obsession. I guarantee you, if Shane reads this, he’ll be  thinking, “Yeah man, that IS an awesome chardonnay! So glad they got to try it.”

The best winemakers’ wines speak for themselves. When I meet a winemaker with self-importance or one who reminds you about their wine’s reputation or prestige, it is almost without fail that I’m underwhelmed by the wine. Maybe it’s a phycological thing with me in that, because I hate boastfulness and self-aggrandizement as character traits, I hate the wine. Regardless, the the best wines I’ve had in the presence of winemakers come from winemakers who don’t talk about what other people think of their wine, or how well the wine sells, or why the wine is so important, or anything of the kind.

I’ve never heard Shane reference anyone’s opinions of his wines, or the success of the wineries where he’s made wines. When we talk about his wine, you can hear the excitement and pride about the wine in his voice, but you also get the sense that he’s never made a wine he’s convinced is good enough. I’ve heard him describe some of his wine in glowing terms, but it seems almost as if he’s surprised it’s as good as it is. He’s just really digging the juice. And then in the very next sentence, he launches into what he’s done in the years since that vintage to improve future vintages. He’s also probably been researching barrels and closures and everything else in the past week, too. The guy never rests on his previous efforts or existing knowledge.

What’s more, he’s creating narratives and themes with his wines that are important to him. As an example, the Zena Crown wines are themed according to the season that they most remind Shane of when he tastes them. And it’s not a marketing gimmick, either. Shane loves the outdoors and enjoys each season in Oregon, and if you taste all four blind and are asked to assign a season to each, you have a good chance of getting it right.

One of Shane’s newest kicks is a sparkling brut rose of pinot noir. When we arrived at the winery, we sat down for lunch before doing the tasting. Shane came running up from the cellar with a bottle of it that had recently been bottled. He was like a kid running to greet a friend on Christmas to show off his newest and best toy. It’s a special project, it’s limited production and availability, it’s abnormally good, and it’s almost as if you can taste his pride and joy in the wine. Can terroir include the human spirit? Maybe it can.

Such joy is alive and well at the winery under Shane’s direction. It’s not just he who is having fun. When we got to the crush pad (which Shane introduced as “So here’s another crush pad. Wooo. I’m sure it’s just soooo exciting. Oh look, tanks!”) we were met by several of Shane’s team. The love and joy and goofiness was on full display. Exhibit A: the Gran Moraine Manromper.

Regardless, the wines wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t for Shane and his team’s meticulous attention to detail and constant quest for improvement. And that’s important because of the vineyard diversity they have for both labels, which offers what are effectively endless possibilities. The more options engaged, the more attention to detail matters.

Gran Moraine Vineyard measures in at precisely 195.43 acres, which is divided into 84 distinct blocks. 164 of those acres are planted to six different pinot noir clones (4, 114, 115, 667, 777 and faux828), while the remainder feature chardonnay clones 76 and 95. Most vines are on RG root stocks, though there are a few 114 and 3309 root stocks peppered in. Elevation ranges from 250 to 475 feet above sea level.

We began the Gran Moraine tasting with the 2015 Yamhill-Carlton pinot noir, which is always one of the best pinots at its price. It’s an AVA blend and, as one would expect based on previous vintages and Shane’s style, it had bright acid, delicate florals, spice box, mounds of red fruit and a depth that slowly sneaks up to you;. It’s a wine that, by the time you’ve had a class, you realize you’re deeper into the wine they you expected or knew. For $45 it’s a hard to beat pinot noir.

The next wine Shane poured was a real treat, the 2013 Estate Reserve. It was funky in all the right ways and slightly delicate. Mushroom, dirt, cranberry, huckleberry, Acai and bitter flower petals made for a very intriguing and interesting wine. We talked briefly about the 2013 vintage, which followed the highly touted 2012. Shane and I agreed that we preferred the 2013s, which show more finesse and elegance compared to the bigger 2012s. The 2013 Estate Reserve is a good example of this dichotomy between vintages. Shane said that the 2012s were already as good as they would get, whereas the 2013 has many years left to improve. I don’t normally reveal whether I buy any wines from a visit to take home, but I’ll mention that we stuffed one of these into our carry-on and are anxiously awaiting 2023 to open it.

We then moved on to the 2014 Estate Reserve. Though not as warm as the 2012 growing season, it was warmer than 2013, and the wine bore that out. A bit sweeter, rounder and plusher on the palate than its most immediate younger sibling, the structure was more robust with seriously dense tannin, which is hiding the flavors a bit at this stage. I imagine that within two to three years it will begin to show itself well, and improve over the following five to ten.

For the 2015 vintage, the name was changed from Estate Reserve to Dropstone, and it is just gorgeous on all fronts. The florals were bright and perfumed, setting up an elegant tannin structure that pulls the wine forward in the mouth. Violets and roses really show through at this stage, while the fruit will take some time to develop. This one offers tremendous promise.

In 2016, Shane made a bottling called Cascade from two south-facing blocks in the Gran Moraine vineyard of 115 and 667 clones. The fruit was fermented in topless wooden barriques in order to moderate the tannins. Requiring hand punch downs, the lots took 30 hours for fermentation to take. All-in-all, it was the most labor intensive and stressful wine of the vintage. The result is an impressively complete wine that really envelops the mouth. It’s more savory than the Estate Reserve/Dropstone, and the fruit is quite layered as well.

The final Gran Moraine we tasted was the 2016 Upland, which Shane called his most masculine wine from the label that can be “put up against serious protein” on the dinner table. It was certainly the heaviest and darkest of what we tried, but the baking spices and minty finish offered a nice balance against the dark and heavy fruit.

The pinots didn’t stop at the Gran Moraine edge, and we transitioned right into Zena Crown. The Zena Crown vineyard, one of Oregon’s most prestigious sources of wine grapes, is 115 acres planted on a southwest-facing slope of volcanic soil that begins at 300 feet of elevation and tops out at 650 feet. It is divided into 17 blocks, each of which has a unique combination of gradient, aspect, soil depths. Vines include a variety of pinot noir clones. All told, the vineyard is quite capable in producing a wide diversity of pinot noir wine, and Shane uses it like a palate wheel. The wines produced from the vineyard are designed to be, if you can buckle down for it, more serious than those from Gran Moraine. Through the use of different winemaking techniques and oak treatments, the tannin structures are longer, the palates are rounder and the complexities deeper.

The first we tasted was the 2014 Slope, which Shane called a “fireplace wine.” Its luxurious sensation is built around long, lush tannins and substantive weight. The flavors and aromas touch on deep cherry, cola, violets and bitter chocolate mousse at this stage, though the upside here with another five-plus years of aging is substantial.

We then moved on to the 2015 vintage, which we tasted from barrel samples. Put aside the fun of tasting good wine, barrel tasting can be tricky. Wine develops dramatically in barrel, so tasting a wine relatively new to barrel is a completely different experience from tasting the same wine closer to bottling time. Therefore, when I see a review or score from a barrel sample I dismiss it because I don’t know the stage in which the wine was tasted. What was nice about this barrel tasting was we knew the stage of the wine, and so I was better able to judge its development and promise. All of the following were close to bottling, so the wines were fairly far along. I believe they went into bottle within a few months of our visit.

The first 2015 was a special treat: a new wine called Vista, which will be sent exclusively to Europe. My first note from tasting it was, “God that’s good, I hope Europe knows how lucky they are.” We’re missing out here in America. My second note: “In a year or two this will be truly spectacular.” The structure is near-perfect harmony while starbursts in the mouth between red and black fruit, dirty soil and graphite make for an exciting wine. It is a better match for the European palate than ours in America, so it makes sense why it’s headed there.

Then came the 2015 Block 6, which at this stage was all about the fruit, which was very purple and juicy (meaning great acid), and the tannins, which were nice and long and smooth. Undertones of spice box and tobacco developed with air. The level of structural development this early into the wine is what impressed most.

The 2015 Conifer was up next. This is Zena Crown’s summer themed wine. Slightly sappy and lighter in tannin than the others, it has elevated acid that delivers ripe fruit, light and sweet tobacco, and a nice depth of mineral tones. I’d compare this to Volnay in style. It seems the most ready to go of the vintage.

The penultimate pinot was the 2015 Sum. This is done with 50% whole cluster and takes a lot of inspiration from Cristom Vineyards’ approach, a Willamette winery that Shane admires. It is the fullest bodied, darkest, sweetest and most concentrated of the label’s wines. Cherry, raspberry, blackberry, cola and baking spices are in generous supply. Most intriguing, the acid has a slight juniper berry twang. Because of its significant weight, it’s not an everyday wine for our household, but for the occasions where we’d want a bigger wine, this would be a fascinating choice.

The final Zena Crown offering was the 2015 Slope, which stood out as the funkiest pinot in the house. The tannin structure is elegant, and it delivers immediate dark and slightly sweet cherry and plum to go with a variety of savory, salty and gamey notes. A lover of earthy wines would find a kindred spirit with the Slope. This is routinely my favorite Zena Crown wine.

We finished with the two chardonnays produced under the Gran Moraine label (Zena Crown is exclusively pinot noir). I love it when producers pour chardonnay after pinot in a tasting line up. We tend to think that whites must go before reds, but it’s really more about the acidity and brightness than anything else when determining a tasting order of dry (non-sweet) wines. Though generally uncommon, I get the feeling more and more Oregon producers are doing it this way and I think it is more effective in helping people experience multiple wines when combining both red and white in a single tasting.

The 2015 Yamhill-Carlton chardonnay remains a close friend of mine. At $45 it is by no means inexpensive, but it over-delivers and is my standard for domestic chardonnay at and around the price. I reviewed this wine in 2018 for an Oregon extravaganza piece, and gave it 93 points with an “A” value rating. I didn’t pick up on it at the time, but at the winery the nose was like a freshly opened box of Cheerios. There is also sweet oak, dried mango, honeysuckle, vanilla custard and a smidge of Earl Grey tea. It’s a plush medium weight on the palate with a bit of a glycerin sensation that I just love. The barrel’s influence is restrained but present in the structure and flavors as well as the nose; it’s managed just right for this profile. There’s oak vanillin, Meyer lemon, sweet cream, Thai basil, persimmon and dried apricot.

The second chardonnay was the 2015 Dropstone, of which only 50 cases was produced. It’s a single block effort, and has wonderful notes of salty caramel, green apple and lemon curd. The acid forms the foundation of a gorgeous and engaging texture that is smooth in the middle ringed by slightly twitchy edges. I didn’t have much time to spend with this one, but I wish I had because I got the feeling it had a lot to offer after a nice decant.

Walking the property

Twelve pinot noirs under the same label showing distinctly different styles and profiles, the lineup of wines we tasted put on display Shane’s ability to showcase terrior, fruit and a variety of winemaking techniques and materials. Making that kind of portfolio requires an obsession for a single grape, and the intimate understanding of the grape to make it in so many different ways. He isn’t the only winemaker making a bunch of pinot noir, but he’s one of the few I’ve come across where the differences between each one are so noticeably and appreciatively different from the others.

The wine is also a demonstration of how much fun he has doing his job. I’m not sure you can achieve what he does every year without loving the hell out of what you do and having a blast doing it. And like any well-rounded individual, the guy has other interests. His priority is his family, loves taking advantage of living in an outdoor recreation haven, and always has interesting things to say regardless of topic is. Life is Shane’s obsession, and it shows through in his wine.