The next stop on my recent Oregon wine country tour was Soléna Cellars. I had enjoyed a bottle of Soléna 2005 Grande Cuvee Pinot Noir a couple of months back, therefore was eager to learn more about this outfit and try some of their other wines.

Soléna Cellars maintains a spacious tasting room a block south of Main Street in downtown Carlton. On the day I visited, wine was being poured by Lisa, who did a great job sharing stories and answering questions. Right off the bat, I was impressed with the fact that Soléna Cellars provided complimentary tastes of seven different wines. That makes things easy - no fees, no refunding - just a focus on tasting wine.

The tasting flight included an '06 Pinot Gris, '05 Quadalupe Pinot Noir, '05 Domaine Danielle Laurent Pinot Noir, '03 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Merlot, '03 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Zinfandel, and a '03 Del Rio Vineyard Syrah, poured in that order. It was an interesting mix of wines, but I opted to focus on the one Pinot Gris and the two Pinot Noirs. There was a chardonnay added to the mix, but frankly it tasted a bit off. After tasting the wines, I ended up purchasing a bottle of the '05 Guadalupe Pinot Noir.

It's worth calling out the detailed tasting notes Soléna Cellars offers with their wines. The sheet I was given on the '05 Guadalupe covers the characteristics of the vintage, vineyard, and vinification in such a way that you get a real feel for the who, what and where behind this wine. Their web site offers these same detailed notes on each of the wines in current release, with the exception of the '05 Guadalupe which has yet to be posted online.

I learned a lot from Lisa on this visit, including how the winery got it's start (founded by Laurent Montalieu, formerly of WillaKenzie, and Danielle Andrus Montalieu, formerly of Archery Summit), how it was named (Soléna, a combination of the French and Spanish words for sun and moon, is the name of Laurent and Danielle's daughter), and where the grapes are sourced (some from their estate vineyard, a wedding gift to each other).

I especially liked the story how Laurent and Danielle planted their 80 acre estate vineyard with six Pinot Noir clones that were received as wedding gifts. That is the first time I have ever heard of grape vines being part of a wedding registry, providing a truly unique story. I also found out that Soléna wine is actually made in McMinnville, a town about 7 miles away, at the Northwest Wine Company facility, a custom winemaking operation started by Laurent that serves about 25 clients.

One thing was becoming clear during my tour of Yamhill County wineries: these folks really care about terroir, maybe even more so than their neighbors to the north in Washington state. I might be over-generalizing here, but vineyard designated wines seem to be much more common in this neck of the woods. Granted, this focus is to be expected with estate wineries, which are more of the rule in Oregon than in Washington. Regardless, I really like the emphasis on place and all that it brings to understanding and enjoying a wine.

And it took some getting used to hearing folks in the tasting room not only talk about vineyards but soil types. Such was the case with Lisa at Soléna, who educated me on the characteristics of Willakenzie soil (well-drained shallow soil over siltstone) and several other types such as Jory and Dundee soils. It was both fascinating and fun to connect the soil to the wine in my glass. I had never experienced this type of connection in a winery's tasting room before.

Overall, this was a fantastic visit. Whatever Soléna Cellars lacks in setting, it more than makes up for in providing visitors with a deeper connection to their wines and Oregon pinot noir in general. I learned a lot about grape growing and wine making in the Willamette Valley on this visit, probably more than any other place during my tour. And it was refreshing to find a tasting room that didn't charge a fee. This focus on friendly service and useful learnings make the Soléna Cellars tasting room a must stop if you're in the Carlton area.

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