Lemelson Vineyards began as a dream — a dream to create a winery that celebrates innovation in technology, sustainability in agriculture, and tradition in winemaking. Eric Lemelson started Lemelson Vineyards with the intention of building something that would not only serve our consumers, but also the longevity of the pristine state that he calls home. Utilizing organic farming methods and gravity flow production, we craft estate grown Pinot noir, Pinot gris, Chardonnay, and Riesling from some of the finest vineyards in the Willamette Valley.
For Matt Wengel, graduating with honors from the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology program was just the start. After completing several harvests in Sonoma County, he journeyed to South Africa, where he swam with Great White sharks off the coast while making wine in Stellenbosch at Warwick Estate. Later he learned Spanish in the Bio–Bio Valley in Chile, while getting to know Chilean winemakers and the wonderful local culture. Matt next came home to the U.S. to work in upstate New York and Hunt County, aspiring to almost freeze to death making ice wine and delicious, crisp dry Rieslings. He then returned to California to a position at Stags Leap Winery in Napa Valley. Before moving to Oregon, he most recently worked at Clos Pegase for a few more years as associate winemaker and made various other Sonoma County brands on the side. Matt had always wanted to come to Oregon and finally made the leap in 2015. He loves producing world class wines at Lemelson Vineyards, honoring our commitment to terroir-driven, minimalist intervention winemaking using organically farmed fruit sourced from our estate vineyards.