Eola Hills Wine Cellars

Tom Huggins, founder and general manager of Eola Hills Winery in the Northwest Willamette Valley of Oregon, had a dream rooted in facts. He knew that great wines could only come from great vineyards. A former agricultural insurance expert, he knew where that precious vineyard land was located. He was able to purchase some prime sites for his own vineyards to fulfill the dream of creating his own wine.

The natural weather shadow of the Coast Range, which shunts storms from the Pacific Ocean north to Portland and south below Salem, protects the Eola Hills vineyards from weather extremes. In the summer heat, the gorge carved by ancient glaciers draws in maritime air to provide ideal cooling for the sensitive varietals.

In 1986 the first crop was harvested and transformed into wine by a nearby winery. The wine's quality provided ample proof of the vineyards' great potential. Eola Hills Wine Cellars was constructed in 1987 at Rickreall, 10 miles west of Salem. This location is central to the vineyard holdings as well as other prime vineyards under contract to Eola Hills.

With these extensive holdings, the winery is able to control quality throughout the grape growing and wine making processes. This enables Eola Hills to offer the public consumer-friendly wines at irresistible prices. For the most sophisticated palates, the winery also produces limited quantities of hand-crafted and extensively aged Reserve and Late Harvest wines.

The Eola Hills premium varietals are aged in a variety of oak barrels, mostly French, to provide subtle complexity to the wines. Several yeast strains are utilized during fermentation to develop appropriate nuances in the various wines. Such attention to detail is also reflected in the vineyards by the hand removal of leaves around each grape cluster to admit maximum sunlight.

“Wine and Spirits” magazine has named Eola Hills Winery one of the “Top 20 Value Brands” in the country, and they were one of the few wineries to win the prestigious Double Gold at the Taster’s Guild International Wine Competition.

Wine writers and critics have given Eola Hills rave reviews. In a recent issue of Wine Spectator, Harvey Stetman wrote “Some of Oregon’s top Pinots are getting up there in price, topping $50 and even $100. But (Eola Hills) sells for less than $30, yet offers distinctive character…it has a personality that sets it apart from the competition…sheer excellence.” Nationally syndicated columnist and wine judge Brooks Tish said, “No one in the U.S. makes a complete stable of dessert wines that can compete with (Eola Hills).”