Wy’east Vineyards: Exceptionality and mystery provides uniqueness

     “We wanted a quaint atmosphere, to be approachable and just have fun, as well as focusing on the vineyard and tasting room,” says Reed. For the sports enthusiast, they have a well groomed Bocce Ball court.

      The tasting room and one part of the vineyard is located at the Blue Chip farm, where there is also a pear orchard and horse boarding. Owned and run by the family, Dick and Christie Reed and their children have run the business since 1996. Initially, Dick and Christie came out from the Chicago area as they had heard from friends of theirs that the Hood River area had fantastic snow skiing  and windsurfing. Well, when they came out they fell in love with the beauty and all the Hood River Valley had to offer — plus they thought it was a great place to escape the hectic life of the city and an idea place to raise their three children.

      The knowledge and enthusiasm of the wine serving staff provides a fun and educational experience as they explain the story of each of their wines, especially if you order their Tasting Flight, which is a sample of five different wines, a must do!

      At Wy’east they harvest, crush, and barrel age all at their facilities. The uniqueness of certain wines often comes with a story behind the name, so here is a brief review of their wines from the Flight Sampler:

     1) The Cessna Chardonnay 2021: A unique story that made the news. During the summer of 2021 a Cessna airplane made an emergency landing in their chardonnay vineyard. Fortunately nobody was hurt and none of the vines were not damaged. The flavor of this wine has a bright fruity taste with a hint of oak.

     2) Pinot Noir Blue Chip 2021: This is their number one seller! Notes of red berry and strawberry flavors that finishes well.  

     3) Reeds Red Blend: Named after the Reed family that is as diversified as the grapes from the estate. The grapes are 37% cabernet sauvignon, 18% syrah, 13% merlot, 13% pinot noir, 13% camenere, and 6% zinfandel, a savory flavor with spicy notes. Keely likes to refrigerate this wine and have a cold glass at home after a hard days work.  

     4) Carmenere 2019: One of my favorites to drink as well as the mysterious story of how these grapes were rediscovered 150 years ago in Chile. This wine has a distinct varietal with a medium body and herbaceous finish.

     5) Rose’ of Pinot Noir 2021: The  wine has a lively texture and brilliant notes of strawberry, raspberry, orange peel, and vanilla beans. Of note the camenere grapes come from a vineyard in Eastern Oregon.

     Like all quality vineyards they have a wine club to suit your individual tastes.

      Of course if you have wines, you must have their charcuterie board and other delicious foods from their custom food truck affectionately named Wheels. The story behind the logo is symbolized for Keely’s husband Ben who loves Harley’s, and Wheels is named after Keely’s nickname!

     Another feather in their hat is that in 2019 Wy’east Vineyards was awarded the prestigious Certificate Of Excellence by Trip Advisor. The Certificate Of Excellence accounts for the quality, quantity, and recency of reviews submitted by travelers on TripAdvisor.

      Wy’east is the Native American word for Mount Hood, and one of the so-called mysteries of being so close to this mountain might be its soil. In fact, the 80 acres of which 30 acres are vineyards, 20 acres of pears, and the remaining for future development towers 1,600 feet making it one of the highest elevation in the entire state of Oregon.

      The uniqueness of the grapes are a reflection of the soil in which they are planted in. Way back between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago, the Missoula Floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods, or Bretz’s floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across Eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. Thus the high elevations of Wy’east Vineyards is above the Missoula Flood level, which resulted in their soil being unlike any other  in the Mid-Columbia Gorge and possibly elsewhere.

      I asked Alan Busacca, Ph.D, in Soil and Science, B.S. in Geology, of Vintage Vineyard Consultants, what is the mystery and uniqueness behind the soil. Alan stated that is has “one of those objectival influenced soil with volcanic ash, wind blown loess (a very fine grained silt or clay, thought to have formed as the result of grinding by glaciers and to have been deposited by the wind) materials from the Missoula flood during the ice age more than 12 million years ago.”  

      I then asked Dr. Busacca why being at 1,600 feet helps?  “They have a great natural exposure with moderate to steep west and south facing slopes, which we prefer for growing grapes.  Their soil and landscape position is well suited,” states Dr. Busacca.

      When I asked Keely why would someone want to visit Wy’east, she replied, “We are approachable, we have some of the best staff in the Gorge, it’s a beautiful setting, and our wines speak for themselves due to our winemaker Peter Cushman and the vineyards.”

     Yes, they do Keely, yes they do!