Founded by Dick and Deirdre Shea in 1996, Shea Wine Cellars is a producer of world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, all made from fruit grown on-site at Shea Vineyard. Shea Wine Cellars was a natural outgrowth of Shea Vineyard which was first planted to wine grapes in 1989.
The 200-acre vineyard property lies at the heart of Oregon's Yamhill-Carlton District and supplies fruit to some of Oregon's and California's finest wineries.
"The wines of Shea Wine Cellars are invariably elegant expressions of what makes Oregon pinot noir so great: focused fruit, velvety texture, strong structure, and that almost indefinable ability to reflect the nuances of where the fruit was grown."
—Cole Danehower, Northwest Palate
Wine News named Shea Vineyard one of 13 "Great American Vineyards"
A consistent floral aroma and a dark red fruit, character with spice seems unusually clear and unique to this vineyard. Shea Wine Cellars Pinot Noirs have become a cult classic collectible.
—Rusty Gafney, Pinot File & Grape Radio
Shea Vineyard named one of five Pinot Noir vineyards in the U.S. meriting the designation "Grand Cru".
—Wine Enthusiast
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: The New Cult Wines (5/30/2008)
"The New Cults: Upstart wines shoot for Screaming Eagle Status". They named three "new cults" from outside California: Shea Wine Cellars and from Washington State Quilceda Creek and Cayuse.
SHEA VINEYARDS VIDEO
Watch the Grape Radio podcast with Dick Shea as they explore the smells and tastes of Oregon’s Shea Vineyards - one bottle at a time.
THANKSGIVING WEEKEND 2008 OPEN HOUSE
Our annual Thanksgiving Weekend open house will take place at our new winery on Shea Vineyard.
We will pour our 2007 limited release Pinots including Homer and Block 33. We also will pour and sell our 2006 Estate Pinot and Chardonnay. November 28 & 29. Closed Sunday the 30th. Also open one day the weekend of the 22nd. Times and tasting fee to be announced. 12321 NE Hwy 240, Newberg, OR 97132. 6.9 miles outside Newberg (toward the town of Yamhill) on Hwy 240.
PINOTFILE FEATURE
PinotFile just profiled the vineyard, our new winery building and other things "Shea". Read about it here (1MB PDF).
FOOD AND WINE SOCIETY OF OREGON The Food and Wine Society of Oregon on May 12, 2007 conducted a blind tasting of 16 Oregon Pinots from the 1998 vintage. The top rated wine was The Shea Wine Cellars, Block 21. Three of the top 4 wines were from Shea Vineyard.Read about it here.
MAILING LIST/2005 VINTAGE WINES
Our 2005 vintage wines are sold out. Contact us if you would like to be added to our mailing list: dickshea@sheawinecellars.com
A letter offering our 2006 vintage wines is available. Our letter only goes out via USPS so please leave your postal address.
RECENT REVIEWS
Reviews of our 2005 vintage wines have arrived . In reviewing our 2005 vintage wines Pinot Report said Shea Wine Cellars' " wines are among the most beautiful expressions of Pinot in Oregon. They're big, full of complex fruit, with great structure and most importantly they are incredibly balanced....These wines really must be on your list and in your cellar". Read the notable ratings on the vineyard page. The Spectator named our 04 Estate Pinot noir #15 on their year end list of "100 Most Exciting Wines of 2006". Wine Advocate rated the 2005's: Homer 93, Pommard Clone 92; Wadenswil Clone 92; East Hill 90 and Estate 90.
Oregon Wine Press on the 2005 Homer: Almost Infinitely layered, the '05 Homer is full of subtle shifts. Smooth and fruity themes float atop hints of coffee, cloves and black cherries......may end up being a bargain.... .
6/6/2008. It's been a cool wet spring. Things are a bit late. Flower and fruit set are still weeks off and look to be about 2 weeks late. On the positive side of the ledger no Spring frost damage this year.
Harvest was completed October 13th. 2/3 was harvested before the onset of rain. The balance was quite ripe before the rains began and we harvested in the breaks in the weather. We like what we see so far. Right now it looks remarkably similar to our 2005 vintage wines.
We are now (March 1) deeply into "winter pruning". Bud break won't be until late April. (Hopefully!).
6/6/2008
The final blends have been made from the 2007 vintage. They were poured at the Memorial Day open house and we had record sales of 2007 futures so our first consumer feedback on the vintage was extremely positive.
October 20, 2007.
Harvest is complete and about 1/3 of the wine is already in barrel. The rest is fermenting away. Lots of color, medium concentration, slightly lower alcohol and a little higher acid than most recent vintages. Remarkably similar to 2005. Should be quite ageworthy wines.
March !, 2008
Malolactic Fermentation is done and the wines look very promising. They bear a strong resemblance to the 2005 vintage (The weather at harvest was almost identical including the rain at the tail end).
