Back to the Future!
We have just wrapped up the 2023 vintage, our 28th here on the “beautiful slope”, and now the focus shifts from filling barrels to filling boxes for shipping and tidying […]
ABOUT BELLE PENTE VINEYARD & WINERY
Belle Pente (bell-pont’) means “beautiful slope” – a perfect description for our 70 acre hillside vineyard & winery site in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It also reflects the inspiration that we draw from the exquisite wines of Burgundy and Alsace, following the guiding principle that great wine is made in the vineyard and merely nurtured in the winery. We are located on a historic 1840s farmstead two miles east of the town of Carlton in the Yamhill-Carlton American Viticultural Area.
The vineyard site rises from 240′ to 500′ with south, south-east, and south-west exposures. The first vineyard was planted in 1994, and now includes over 16 acres of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay. The estate vineyard is supplemented with high quality fruit grown to our specifications in partnership with carefully selected independent Yamhill County vineyards. Our 3-level, gravity flow winery was built in 1996 (our first vintage), and our average production is now 4500 cases per year, 2/3 of which is Pinot Noir, and 2/3 of which is from estate grown grapes.
PROPRIETORS
Jill & Brian O’Donnell established Belle Pente Vineyards in 1994, with the first wine produced in 1996. Brian is from New York City, and Jill from St Cloud, Minnesota. They met while living in California, and moved to the Willamette Valley in 1992. Both were award-winning home brewers, and Brian began making wine for family and friends in 1986. On the night of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, they resolved to begin a transition out of their Silicon Valley careers to start up a small premium vineyard & winery. Brian is currently responsible for production, and he and Jill share marketing and administrative duties. Daughter Riona arrived just in time for the 1999 vintage, and now serves as Director of Social Media Marketing (when not working her “day job” in clinical research at Mt Sinai Hospital in New York)!
Notes from Brian’s Journal
Why Tariffs on Imported Wines are Bad for Wineries
Follows is a copy of the comments we submitted to the Office of United States Trade Representative regarding the proposed 100% tariffs on European wine: As the owner/operator of a […]
2019 Fall Newsletter
It’s a wrap! We’ve just completed our 24th harvest here at Belle Pente. Ninety-two barrels of estate vineyard Pinot Noir (along with 6 of Gamay!) are now tucked safely away […]
Buzz Words (Or Sizzle vs Steak)!
Regenerative Agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services. It has for better or worse become the new […]
