From: Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon (USA)
Varietal: Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio)
Taste: Lifted and savory notes meet an evolving, complex palate in this serious ramato. We recommend letting this bottle breathe for a while after your first taste; this wine gets prettier and prettier with exposure to oxygen. Mandarin orange zest, apple blossom and white peach meet Asian pear, white strawberry, and Moroccan spice notes alongside hints of Fenugreek and rose hip. The finish is textural and long, and leans into a lilting, rosy minerality.
Pairing: This Willamette Valley skin-contact Pinot Grigio will pair well with anything from prosciutto and melons, to pizza bianca, to char-broiled or smoked salmon. We love it with casual picnic foods like ham and cheese sandwiches or ham and beurre baguettes, and even pizza bianca. Check out Mark Bittman's NYT recipe below for salmon-centered picnic fare.
Salmon Burgers by Mark Bittman
About. The Cameron Winery in Oregon has a storied tradition of exceptional wines, with its unerring focus on quality, sustainability, and hand-craftsmanship. Founded in 1984 by John Paul, Cameron Winery is a small family operation that produces 3,000 to 4,000 cases annually. Cameron Winery is recognized as the first certified Salmon-Safe vineyard in Oregon, a testament to their dedication to riparian protection, water management, and conservation of native biodiversity.
John Paul embarked on his winemaking journey after an impressive academic stint, having earned a Ph.D. in Marine Biochemistry. He was drawn to the creative freedom and sensory experiences that the field of winemaking provided, embracing it as an opportunity to engage the artistic side of his mind while simultaneously enjoying the fruits of his labor. Paul ventured across Oregon, New Zealand, and California, learning the ropes of the industry before becoming an assistant winemaker at Carneros Creek Winery in Napa Valley. John Paul moved northward alongside his wife, Teri Wadsworth, and partners Bill and Julia Wayne of Abbey Ridge Vineyard, Marc Dochez, and Shawna Archibald, founding Cameron Winery. The winery's name pays homage to its location in Dundee and is a tribute to the Scottish Clan of the Paul family.
The team at Cameron Winery grew to include Tom Sivilli, a talented winemaker who joined the ranks in 2011. His experience in Australian and Oregonian wineries brought a refined palate, a profound respect for the vineyards, and an exceptional knack for managing the winery's operations. Phil London, a luminary from Mt. Eden Vineyard in California, came aboard as the vineyard manager, spearheading a transition towards regenerative agriculture practices. Meanwhile, Teri Wadsworth brought her unique sense of humor to the team, a quality reflected in the winery's newsletters. Julian Paul contributed creatively through label design and product ideation, bringing spritz rosé and cider to the winery's offerings. Tawny Paul also took an active role in the winery's affairs. The winery is not just a human enterprise; it also includes the loyal companionship of Linus and Yuki, the dogs, Vinnie the cat, a flock of ten chickens, and a hive of bees, all integral parts of the Cameron Winery family.
The Pinot Gris vines that produced this wine are planted at over 800 feet (that's high) in the exquisite Abbey Ridge vineyard. The Pinot Gris is made in the "Ramato" style from Northeast Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia region. “Ramato” comes from the word “rame,” which means “copper” in Italian: an apt description of the pink/orange color that results from the practice of macerating the grey-skinned grape on its skins.
Cameron's Ramato was featured in a 2018 Wine Enthusiast article on Ramato by Vicki Denig:
"In Dundee, Oregon, Cameron Winery owner and winemaker, John Paul Cameron, creates a Ramato at his estate. 'Since I had always disliked Pinot Grigio as a white wine, I decided to look into it further,' he says.
Cameron says that Pinot Grigio must hang on the vines longer to develop the color necessary to create a Ramato. In doing so, the skins begin to lose some of their bitter tannins, he says, which makes the wine more accessible and drinkable.
Cameron crushes the fruit and extracts the must for four to five hours before he presses. After fermentation in large barrels, the wine ages six to eight months in neutral oak barrels, which allows unstable proteins to separate from the wine in barrel.
'I have experienced great enthusiasm on the part of consumers with comments such as, "If I knew that Pinot Gris could taste like this, I’d like Pinot Gris." ' says Cameron."
In John Paul's 2013 blog post introducing Cameron's first vintage of pink wines, he noted that making wines like Ramato "properly requires some skills above the norm for making most wine. That is because “balance” is more difficult to achieve in these wines given the contact with the skins, which will extract sometimes bitter phenolics (tannins) without the more forceful flavors inherent in red wines to offset them. It becomes a game of restraint versus extravagance, pulling out sufficient color and texture while leaving the wine buoyant and fresh at the same time."
Tasting Notes: see our notes from tasting
Winery on 2021: "The small berries of 2021 generated a Ramato of exceptionally dark copper tones and notable texture from the Pinot gris skin tannins. Marzipan, lemon, and pomegranate give way to bitter almond and nectarine in the mouth."
"A Cameron crusher with origins in northeastern Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia region, ramato is Italian for copper colored and refers specifically to Pinot grigio (or in Oregon's case, gris) fermented with skin contact. Pinot gris skins have both color and flavor, making this much (much) more than your garden variety "rosé." Fabulous texture, too."
"Pinot Gris from Abbey Ridge. This kinda drinks like lemonade laced with fresh peach juice, wild strawberries, and fresh herbs with a mild tannic cling."
"The beautiful rich copper hue in our 2019 Ramato introduces you to marzipan married with lemon & pomegranate. In the mouth flavors of bitter almond and nectarines linger on the pallet which is rich and slightly tannic from contact with the Pinot Gris skins. Because of the very small crop, production was limited, intensity high and availability fleeting!”
