Open: Year-round
The farmhouse that serves as our tasting room today was built in 1883 on the Reuter family homestead. The Reuter family had built quite a reputation by the 1880's for their Klevner wine, and even won a gold medal at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. (Klevner is a modern Alsatian term for Pinot Blanc and has also been known to refer to Chardonnay.)
When Prohibition came to call, all the grapevines planted by Reuter were removed and were replaced with fruit trees and potato plantings.Fast-forward to 1965 when Charles Coury, a graduate of UC Davis, came to Northern Oregon as other early winemakers were arriving [David Lett - 1966, Dick Erath - 1968, Dick Ponzi - 1970, David Adelsheim - 1971] and planted what are now our oldest vines. Charles brought back root stock from Alsace and Burgundy, and cultivated these Pinot Noir clones on the property in Forest Grove.
Coury also planted an assortment of Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, Semillon, Pinot Blanc, and Riesling - probably to prove his Master's thesis on growing grapes in cooler climates - and these vines are still on the property today.David Hill is named for the Frederick David Family that once lived in the Forest Grove area. The hilly area was originally known as David's Hill and prior to that, Wine Hill. When Charles Coury planted in 1965, the estate was known as Charles Coury Vineyards.
