David Lett (1939 – October 9, 2008) was the founder and

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to de ...

for The Eyrie Vineyards in the

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Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. He was a pioneer in the Oregon wine industry. Lett grew up on a farm in Holladay, Utah earned a degree in philosophy and pre-med at the University of Utah. In 1964, he graduated from UC-Davis with a degree in winemaking and grape growing, and a mission to find an appropriate place to grow Pinot noir outside of Burgundy. In early 1965, against the advice of the professors at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, he moved to Oregon and planted the first Pinot noir, Chardonnay and related vinifera wine varieties in the Willamette Valley. In 1966, he and his wife Diana purchased hillside acreage near

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, a small city about 45 minutes south of Portland, and named it The Eyrie Vineyards, after a nest of hawks at the top of the vineyard. They made their first

Pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

in 1970. . The Eyrie Vineyards 1975 South Block Reserve Pinot Noir shocked much of the wine world when it showed very well in the Wine Olympiad ("

Wine Olympics A Wine Olympics was organized by the French food and wine magazine '' Gault-Millau'' in 1979. A total of 330 wines from 33 countries were evaluated by 62 experts from ten nationalities. The 1976 contestant Trefethen Vineyards Chardonnay from ...

"), first in

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in 1979 and then in

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

the following year. In a retirement farewell to David Lett, this wine and every other reserve Pinot noir were poured in a special vertical tasting at the winery in July 2008. The winery itself is in McMinnville. Lett died on October 9, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lett, David American winemakers Oregon wine 1939 births 2008 deaths People from Holladay, Utah People from Yamhill County, Oregon University of California, Davis alumni