Willamette Valley Wine Auction 2026: A critic’s preview of this year’s wines
Set up at the Kimpton Vintage Hotel in downtown Portland, I spent two days tasting the final bottled samples from nearly every lot on offer at the upcoming Willamette Valley Wine Auction (13-14 May, 2026).
I was there in my capacity as Decanter‘s Acting North America Regional Editor and Napa Valley Correspondent, assigning ratings and tasting notes to the auction lots.
I myself have been the recipient of many auction wines, and try as I may to find information on them, I usually can’t.
Initial impressions of the 2024 vintage for Willamette Valley
(Image credit: L’Angolo Estate/Willamette Valley Wineries Association)
The 2024 growing season in the Willamette Valley was, by most accounts, close to ideal.
Slow, steady ripening with bright sunny days and highs largely in the low-to-mid 20°C (70s°F), and night time temperatures dipping to the mid-10s°C (50s°F), allowed for long hang times and retention of bright, natural acidity with complex flavour development.
A brief mid-summer heat spike nudged sugars along, ripening tannin without taxing acidity.
The result is a classic Willamette profile of crunchy, ripe, vibrant fruit, modest alcohols largely in the 12.9%-13.9% range, with high natural acidity.
The Pinot Noirs are bold with firm tannic structures, the Chardonnays are striking, tension-driven, and layered, and the sparklers are bright and focused.
As one winemaker put it, this is, ‘a vintage that collectors and wine lovers will want to secure for their cellars’.
(Image credit: Willamette Valley Wine Auction / Carolyn Wells Kramer)
The auction is entering its tenth year, and Executive Director Morgen McLaughlin describes it as ‘one of the Willamette Valley’s most important long-term platforms, not just an annual event’.
It has allowed producers to showcase rare, small-production, library, and collaborative wines that, as McLaughlin continues, ‘may not fit into a standard tasting or sales channel, giving them a way to express what makes their vineyards, winemaking, and AVA stories distinctive’.
‘Just as importantly, the Auction has reinforced the collaborative spirit of the Valley.’
Over the past decade, more than $5 million has been raised to support the Willamette Valley Wineries Association’s marketing, education, and brand-building programmes.
In 2025 alone, more than 80 trade bidders from 35 states and three countries participated.
This year’s two-day format reflects the auction’s maturity: Day One (‘Whimsy’) welcomes collectors and consumers for an insider’s look at the 2024 vintage; Day Two (‘Wonder’) is a trade-only deep dive with producers on hand.
What struck me across two days of tasting wasn’t just the quality of the wines but the positive attitude of the producers behind them.
James Frey, winemaker, proprietor of Trisaetum, and prolific artist (see The James Frey Collection), described the annual auction as evidence of Willamete Valley’s, ‘strong collegial spirit’ and the ‘great group of people who still believe a rising tide lifts all boats’.
Acid-etched purity
(Image credit: Willamette Valley Wine Auction / Carolyn Wells Kramer)
Frey produced a sparkling wine for the auction, as did Rollin Soles of ROCO, who has been making bubbles in the valley for four decades.
I found the Willamette sparklings vivid and laser-focused, with ultra-frothy, airy mousses.
‘After 40 years, I still believe the Willamette is the finest spot in the New World for sparkling,’ Soles told me.
‘Growing above the 45th parallel means later harvests, naturally high acidity, and grapes that retain higher protein levels, which directly aids bubble retention.’
Frey added that the ultra-cool sites where Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier struggle to ripen for still wines create ideal conditions for sparkling wine.
As for the still wines: the Pinots are gorgeously pure-fruited, often nuanced by that dusty, red volcanic mineral character drawn from the region’s soils, while in the whites it creates a complexity I personally couldn’t get enough of.
I’m still thinking about Bethel Heights’ Swan Song Chardonnay, among my highest-scoring lots, crafted from own-rooted old Wente clone vines that also produced High Wire – former North America Editor Clive Pursehouse’s only 100-point wine during his entire Decanter tenure.
When I asked winemaker Ben Casteel what made those vines and site so special, his response was deeply personal: ‘That it took my father’s entire career and the first 10 years of mine to produce something special is a tremendous testament to perseverance.’
At least one more vintage – a 2025 High Wire Chardonnay – is coming before, tragically, the vines succumb to phylloxera.
A note on the scores
Full auction lot scores and tasting notes are available below. They have been marked with a score range which is mentioned in the note.
The Willamette Valley Wine Auction takes place May 13-14, 2026.
To the producers and buyers: no matter my scores, each wine here is genuinely exceptional, and I hope that comes through in the tasting notes.
Top wines from this year’s Willamette Valley Wine Auction
All 50+ of Jonathan’s notes on the Willamette Valley Wine Auction wines can be found here.
