Oak Knoll Winery


Oak Knoll Winery is a privately held winery located in the Tualatin Valley near Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Established in 1970, it is the largest winery in Washington County and produces Pinot noir, Pinot gris, and Chardonnay.
Its prolific variety of wines owes to its rather unusual lack of its own vineyard. It obtains grapes from area producers instead.

History

In 1970, the winery was established by Marjorie and Ron Vuylsteke south of Hillsboro on what was then a dairy farm. Oak Knoll became the first winery in Washington County. Used Coca-Cola drums were utilized for storing the wine during the fermentation process in the early years. The first batch consisted of 4,000 gallons of fruit wine, with the first Pinot noir coming in 1973. Other wines introduced later include Chardonnay and Riesling in 1975 and Pinot gris in 1990.
Oak Knoll also became the first winery in Washington County to open a tasting room. By 1986 the winery was the second largest by volume sold in Oregon, but slipped to third by 1988. Also in 1986, the Washington Post named the winery’s Pinot noir some of the best Pinot noir from the United States. Over time, the winery has produced other unique wines such as one using loganberries. In 1998, their Oak Knoll Frambrosia made with raspberries was referred to as one of the world’s best dessert wines. Founders Ron and Marjorie sold part of the winery in 2005 to their sons Tom and John Vuylsteke. In 2006, the winery was the largest in Washington County with 30,000 cases produced each year.

Accolades

Oak Knoll uses grapes from within the Willamette Valley AVA to produce its wines. The winery is a family run enterprise with Greg Lint serving as president. It has annual revenues of $7.5 million selling varieties including Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Niagara, and Pinot gris among others, under its own label and the Twilight Blush, Eruption, and Frambrosia labels. They are the official wine sponsor of the Portland Rose Festival.