7/11/25 - 

Cameron is a name synonymous with great Oregon Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and we've sang the praises of the fabulous Nebbiolo for many years. However maybe a bit more under-the-radar are some of winemaker John Paul's other Italian varietal wines, inspired by his love of the great wines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, particularly those from Vodopivec, Radikon and the like. We love those producers, and we love everything John makes, so it goes without saying that we're excited to be able to offer some of these incredible wines today! 

John Paul (left) and some Abbey Ridge Pinot Gris (right)

Cameron was founded in 1984 and remains a small family operation to this day, producing just a few thousand cases annually. Their home vineyard Clos Electrique, which sits high in the Dundee Hills, along with the small handful of vineyards they work with are all dry-farmed, organic and promote biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem. Abbey Ridge Vineyard has some of the oldest plantings in Oregon and provides the Italian white varietals that go into Giovanni and Giuliano along with most of the Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills Pinot. For a more in-depth look at the history of the winery and its enigmatic leader John Paul you can check out a more detailed account here.
 
We caught up with John about these new releases and he was kind enough to share some of his always insightful and entertaining thoughts on the wines:
 
2024 Giovanni: "The 2024 Giovanni is all Pinot Bianco (well, also a splash of Chardonnay!) fermented in stainless steel. 2024 is honestly going to be one of the really great vintages from Oregon for purity of fruit, mouthfeel and vibrant acidities. This is a wonderful aperitif wine...just chill it and sit down and let it inspire conversation!"
 
2024 Giuliano: "The Giuliano is named after my son, Julian, who at age 12 on a trip to Italy asked why we didn't do a white blend after he heard me going on and on about the traditional Italian white blends in Friuli and how good they were! So I started collecting Italian white varietals and planting a row here and a row there. Along the way in this process I made a trip to visit Silvio Jermann who makes Vintage Tunina, one of the great white wines of Italy (though I think those wines slipped a bit when he went to screw caps). At any rate I noted what his varietal mix was and started looking for those varieties in earnest. The blend at present is as follows (and quantities of each variety vary a bit from vintage to vintage as you might imagine): Friulano, Pinot grigio, Pinot Bianco, Ribolla Gialla, Auxerrois, un bacio (a kiss) de Moscato, and a tiny bit of Picolit. It is stainless fermented and then bottled in the late winter to preserve the fermentation aromatics."
 
2023 Friulano: "The Friulano is inspired by Vodopivec also in the Colio and while I was visiting the Radikons in 2014 I was introduced to a bottle of his Friulano which kind of blew my mind. I happened to be growing Friulano (and putting it all into the Giuliano) so I was game for trying an amphora of the stuff. But Vodopivec is wonderfully radical and once you destem the fruit into the amphora you leave it for at least 2 months! It also then gets at least 18 months in neutral barrel before bottling."
 
2023 Supernatural: "The Supernatural is 100% Pinot gris and, indeed, Saša [Radikon] and his father, Stanko, showed me how to pick the gris correctly for this wine. I showed up in mid-September to get "the word from on high" according to the maestros! Stanko went out into the gris (which they were going to pick in a couple of days) and brought back clusters of varying ripeness. It turns out that gris has a lot of skin tannins but those drop when the fruit gets sufficiently ripe (and takes on color at the same time). So we tasted berry after berry until I had it down observing the bitterness in the skins drop as the clusters got riper (nothing you could ever read in a book!). And I am particularly grateful for this experience because Stanko died a couple of months after I was there. The Supernatural is totally destemmed as whole berries into several amphorae, allowed to ferment therein with the ambient yeast on the skins and then left for around 45 days before pressing into old neutral oak barrels. It is aged for a minimum of 18 months prior to bottling and read the label, it really is best when suitably chilled before serving!!"
 
2023 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir: "2023 Dundee Hills Pinot noir is mostly derived from the Abbey Ridge Vineyard with a couple of barrels from Clos Electrique and a couple more barrels from a wonderful grower, also in the Dundee Hills, whose vineyard is La Colina. It is a nice ripe vintage with alcohols pushed slightly by August heat to just over 13% which gives it a heady aroma. The black cherries and rose petals really come out in this wine and those are signature aromas from Abbey Ridge. I find the mouth to be the most outstanding part of this wine...it is smooth and elegant and rich and way too easy to drink. This is the type of Pinot noir that just disappears when you open the bottle."

We're thrilled to offer these unique and singular wines from Cameron along with the delicious 2023 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, which serves as a great entrypoint to Cameron Pinot and at a bit more approachable price-point than some of the single-vineyard bottlings. 

-Jeff DiLorenzo

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