French Wine ‘Royalty’ Buys Oregon Vineyard


Jason Kaplan

The Burgundian Drouhin wine family expands its Oregon footprint with purchase of Methven Family Vineyards.

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The Drouhin wine family has purchased the Methven Family Vineyards in Dayton, according to multiple reports this week.

The Methven vineyard is the second Oregon acquisition by the international winemaking family from France’s Beaune region,

In 2013 the Drouhins acquired the Eola-Amity Hills American Viticulture Area. But the Drouhins have been farming in the Willamette Valley since 1987, when they established Domaine Drouhin Oregon in Dundee Hills, according to the trade publication Drinks Business.

The Methvens will retain their brand, but terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, The Portland Business Journal reported.

The purchase was conducted through the family’s US-based holding company Domaine Drouhin Oregon. Included in the deal is 10,000-case winery and a 85-acre property with 30 acres under vine, planted with chardonnay, gamay noir, pinot gris, pinot noir, and riesling grapes. Thirty acres of the facility are certified as sustainable by the LIVE Organization, a sustainability nonprofit specific to winemakers.

Véronique Boss-Drouhin, a fourth-generation winemaker who manages the Burgundy business along with her brothers, said the acquisition “fits very well into who we are in Oregon, and our plans for the future,” according to Drinks Business.

Jill Methven, widow of Dr. Allen Methven, who founded the winery, said she was happy to hand the reins to the Drouhin Family after her husband passed away earlier this year.

TheDrouhins began making wines in Bourgogne in 1880 and are sometimes described as “winemaking royalty.”


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