http://www.oregonlive.com/wine/index.ssf/2011/11/2011_holiday_wine_guide_50_yea.html

For the record, I based my comments on the entry in the Oxford Companion to Wine — I’ll paste an excerpt below. I believe the Oregon entry was written by Lisa Shara Hall. Here’s the excerpt.

Oregon’s modern era dates from 1961, when Hillcrest Vineyard was established near Roseburg (well south of today’s concentration of grape-growing) by Richard Sommer, a refugee from the University of California at davis, where he had been firmly advised that vinifera grapes could not be grown in Oregon.

The Pinot Noir era dates from 1965. California refugee Charles Coury planted a wide range of Alsace varieties—including Pinot Noir—on the exact site in Washington county of an alleged 19th-century vineyard. But it is David Lett of the Eyrie Vineyard who is most frequently referred to as ‘Papa Pinot’, having first rooted Pinot Noir cuttings near Corvallis while researching a permanent vineyard site. In 1966, he replanted them in the north end of the Willamette valley in the Dundee hills—now the epicentre of Oregon’s wine industry—convinced that Burgundian varieties could be grown better in Oregon than in California. He was followed by Dick Erath of Knudsen-Erath (now known as Erath Vineyards) among about six other true believers in those early years. The majority of the pioneers had done time in California before deciding that it was the wrong sort of place for their preferred style of wine.

I am so sorry. It was probably a bad idea to expect to get a response from Mike. He is fortunate to have such ardent supporters, this awkward place where I commented on an article written by him happened to be the only place where I could comment. I was addressing Mike. The Pinot File does not allow comments on his site of course he is a Prince and if I remember my etiquette your not supposed to speak directly to the Prince.
I do not remember seeing Karl Klooster retract his story or anybody asking him to. But back then I think his goal was the same as mine and that was to stop Forest Grove’s efforts to use the slogan “Forest Grove the Birthplace of Oregon Pinot Noir ” I guess bringing that up when and where I did was pretty awkward too seeing as how it was someone I like who contacted me to promote the idea.

I can always be reached at marc@enobytes.org.

“The record shows that David Lett was the first to plant Pinot noir in the Willamette Valley.” –What record are you referring too? I’d love to see the official record.

In all honesty, it seems like people who argue this point are people that have something to gain from it. We can’t change history.

On David Hills website it states, “In 1965 Charles Coury, along with a few other wine pioneers, came north from California to establish vineyards in the Willamette Valley where they believed they could successfully grow Pinot Noir. Many of the vines still exist. There are approximately 6 acres of old vine Pinot Noir and 2 acres of Riesling. There is also Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Semillon and Sylvaner that were planted at that time as well. David Hill Winery is home to the Willamette Valley’s oldest Pinot Noir Vines.”

If the aforementioned were erroneous, inaccurate information, I would assume the Lett estate would take legal action and demand the statement be removed.

The record shows that David Lett was the first to plant Pinot noir in the Willamette Valley.

Thanks for the great (and accurate) post, Mike!

This quote from your article may be a bit misleading.”Lett planted the first Pinot Noir vines in the Willamette Valley ” this link points to the fact his wines were the first Willamette Valley Pinot Noir’s that gained recognition but were not the first Pinot Noir vines planted in Willamette Valley. http://tinyurl.com/3gko8rv
Dick Erath’s statements are pretty convincing and very hard to repute. The fact that Dave and Dick had good reason to sweep aside Charles Coury’s efforts as eluded to in Karl Klooster’s interview when Dick say’s Charles planted first but it did not come to anything he is not saying Coury did not make wine. His answer to the question where he refers to Beethoven’s birthday is certainly sidestepping the question . History does not differentiate between who was better it is supposed to be an accurate timeline. No disrespect meant to the Lett family and I wish them continued success but the accuracy of history should be just that.