Ken Wright Cellars

Ken Wright came to Oregon after studying enology and viticulture at UC Davis and spending eight years making wine on California’s Central Coast. He founded Panther Creek Cellars in McMinnville in 1986, then established Ken Wright Cellars in Carlton in 1994 and made vineyard-designate Pinot Noir its defining focus. Wright later helped organize the northern Willamette Valley’s sub-appellations and authored the proposal for Yamhill-Carlton’s recognition as a winegrowing area.

The vineyards span marine sedimentary and volcanic soils. In the cellar, grapes are sorted by hand and fermented in small open vats, with vineyard lots kept separate.