The Superlative Wines of Cameron
The Superlative Wines of Cameron
When discussing great American Pinot Noir, and particularly great Oregon Pinot Noir, the conversation would be remiss without mention of Cameron and its inimitable owner/winemaker John Paul. John is someone so full of personality he’s impossible to forget, even in the most brief of meetings. His wines share this same quality – always spirited and full of energy, but simultaneously profound and ready to have a deep conversation. Like the man himself, the wines are singular and stand out on their own alongside some of the greatest in the world.
The winery and vineyards are both in Dundee Hills: Clos Electrique, which is Cameron’s estate vineyard planted in 1984, and Abbey Ridge, one of the oldest vineyards in Oregon planted in 1976. Both sites are dry-farmed organically with an emphasis on biodiversity, where animals such as chickens and geese are used to fertilize soils and cover crops promote helpful insect populations. This biodiversity extends to the cellar, where fungi grow and keep the environment ideal for fermenting and maturing wine. All of this adds to the personality of the wines, which carry an unmistakable signature while remaining clean and precise, very much like some of the great estates in Burgundy or anywhere else in the world. The name Clos Electrique (which translates to “Electric Fence”) is both an allusion to Burgundy and a very literal nod to the electric fence surrounding the property, which keeps deer from ruining the crops.
John got his start in the wine business in the 70s, after being drawn away from academia and his postdoctoral work in chemistry at UC Berkeley. As John explained at a recent Cameron event in the city, he had always wanted to make Burgundy and lucked into a job at Carneros Creek Winery. Carneros Creek was started by Bal Gibson, who had married into the Baldwin family and had a bit of expendable income. In addition to the winery, which was "all about Burgundy clones," Bal also started an importing company called Connoisseur Wines, which was the original importer in California for Domaine Romanée Conti. On the first day of his new job, John's first task was to taste the full lineup of 1976 DRCs... It's no wonder he never looked back!
Given his focus and love for Burgundy, Bal Gibson provided a grant to a professor from UC Davis Viticulture school named Curtis Alley. Dr. Alley was given a hectare at Carneros Creek winery to plant around 20 different Pinot noir clones that he would gather around California. As the Cameron website explains, "Each vine had its own stake with a capital letter denoting its origin; for example A was from Joseph Swan, E was from Hanzell, P was Chalone and so on." John was assigned to make wines from the clones, and became fast friends with Dr. Alley, whom he admired for his incredible knowledge and willingness to get his hands dirty! John gradually learned how important the clones were from different vineyards in California, most notably from Henzel, Shalon, Swan, Martini, and Martin Ray. He approached all of these vineyard owners in order to help Dr. Alley with the Carneros Creek project. Shalon had vines from Chambertin and was friendly. Bob Sessions was a big help. Joseph Swan was nice, and even admitted that he took some cuttings from the Martin Ray vineyard! Dick Hanzell was not particularly nice, and never replied to John's request, so John went there at night with a flashlight (he says people do that now at Cameron, but he would gladly supply cuttings if they asked him!).
Eventually, John learned that if this was to be the most comprehensive collection of clones, he would need cuttings from the Martin Ray vineyard. Planted originally by Paul Masson, who was a friend of DRC and several families in the Clos Vougeot, the vineyard was perhaps the holy grail of Burgundy clones in California. Martin Ray approached Paul Masson after prohibition and became the owner of the vineyard after Masson passed away. Seagrams (yes, that Seagrams) was after the vineyard, and pressured Martin Ray after Masson passed away. When Ray refused to sell, Seagrams attempted to burn the vineyard completely. Luckily Ray took all of the cuttings from the vineyard and planted them up in Santa Cruz, above the scorched vineyard. This became known as the Mount Eden vineyard, and young John Paul was allowed to take cuttings from the Martin Ray plot at Mount Eden. While there to get the Pinot clones, John's son convinced the owner to also give them cuttings of Chardonnay clones, which were old Burgundy clones as well, so John left with a treasure trove of material!
Some years later in 1984, John started the Cameron Winery in Oregon and brought with him many clones from these famous sites in California. Abbey Ridge has the Martin Ray clones, and Clos Electrique has all of the clones from Shalon, Swan, Hanzell, Martini and Martin Ray, and we're guessing some others as well! This clonal diversity proved to be advantageous in the 2022 harvest, where frost was an issue at Clos Electrique in April but spared the Corton-Charlemagne clones, which bud around 7-10 days later. It’s almost entirely these clones that make up the Clos Electrique Blanc in 2022.
Clearly, having the best clonal material does not guarantee great wines. Years of experience and dedication, great farming and openness to experimentation are all essential as well. Over time, John learned to trust the old French wisdom of "100 days from bud break," which give or take predicts the moment when grapes will reach physiological ripeness. He never picks based on sugar or PH, but always aims to pick physiologically ripe grapes. Though this never changed, he was open to change when it came to the quality of the tannins in his Pinots. While tasting a vertical of Clos Electrique Pinot Noirs with John Paul recently, our good friend Pascaline Lepeltier asked about the elegance of the wines, especially how fine the tannins were. John's eyes lit up and he launched into a fascinating story about the evolution of the Cameron wines. As he explained, he changed his approach to winemaking in 1993. Mondavi had a project to find the perfect destemmer for Pinot Noir. Everyone said the Olmos (possible mispelling) 505 from Germany was the best on the market. John's friend from Beaux Freres winery happened to be going to a trade fair, so they each bought the destemmer, which was designed to perfectly knock whole berries off, which fell by gravity and remained intact, with no exposed seeds. The result for John was juice with only very soft skin tannins, and he considers this change to mark the beginning of great wines at Cameron Winery.
To give a sense of John’s humorous yet insightful personality, in 2001, perplexed by the absurd inflation in prices of wines both in Oregon and previously in Napa, he bottled a barrel of his Abbey Ridge Pinot (which sold for around $40 at the time) and dubbed it “Screaming Ego,” pricing it at $250 per bottle. The front label had an image of Icarus falling into the sea, and the back label simply read “Very Expensive Pinot Noir.” Surprising to John and Abbey Ridge co-founder Bill Wayne, the tongue-in-cheek wine sold, and still holds a place as a sort of mythical wine tied to a specific time, place and person – truly one-of-one stuff.
John was kind enough to give us some insight on the current release wines, which include the 2022 Clos Electrique Blanc and Rouge, 2022 Abbey Ridge Pinot Noir, 2020 Nebbiolo and an exciting new addition to the NY market, the 2023 Dundee Hills Chardonnay. As John related, Clos Electrique was hit particularly hard with frost early on in 2022, so quantities are unfortunately extremely limited, amounting to just three barrels of Blanc and four barrels of Rouge. The Abbey Ridge Pinot sits at high enough elevation that it was largely left unaffected by the frost, with only the Wadenswil clone suffering. The 2020 Nebbiolo harvest, while under threat of smoke taint, turned out to produce beautiful fruit thanks to ideal conditions late in the season and several rain storms prior to harvesting. The 2023 vintage was spectacular and produced ample fruit, most of which are still in barrel. As John related regarding the 2023 Dundee Hills Chardonnay, "Usually we sell all of this wine in-state (in Oregon) but we were having such a good time in NYC when we were back here in November that during a wine-infused lunch we agreed to send a pallet of this wine to you!!" We are happy he did, and excited to feature these superb wines from one of our favorite people and winemakers! -Jeff DiLorenzo & Eben Lillie
Cameron 2023 Dundee Hills Chardonnay
The 2023 Dundee Hills Chardonnay comes from a comination of Abbey Ridge and Clos Electrique fruit, made to be approachable and open in style while still exhibiting Cameron's signature precision and elegance. From the winery: "Lime leaf and orange blossom...
$39.99
Cameron 2022 Clos Electrique Blanc
The Clos Electrique Blanc has always been a pinnacle of Oregon Chardonnay, coming from the estate vineyard vines planted in 1987 to multiple clones. The quantities in 2022 were extremely small, and as a result very little made it to...
$94.99
Cameron 2022 Clos Electrique Rouge
Frost in April resulted in lower than typical yields for the Clos Electrique Rouge, which comes from various clones planted in the 80s and dry-farmed organically like all of Cameron's wines. Perennially one of the great Oregon Pinot Noirs, there's...
$84.99
Cameron 2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Abbey Ridge
Abbey Ridge is one of the oldest vineyards in Oregon, first planted in 1976 at a high elevation site in the Dundee Hills. The vines go deep and show great density, and the grapes are generally harvested a bit later...
$84.99
Cameron 2020 Willamette Valley Nebbiolo
The Cameron Nebbiolo comes from the Clos Electrique Vineyard, mostly planted in 1993 with some added in 2000. It's one of the most "Nebbiolo-like" California Nebbiolos, showing the grape's distinct cherry, rose and tar notes with ample acidity and tannin....
$52.99
