The Coury Clone
Charles Coury, who wrote a master thesis at Davis titled, “Cold Climate Amelioration Hypothesis,” in which he hypothesized that vinifera varieties produced their best quality wines when ripened just at the limit of their growing season. Coury had a degree from University California Los Angeles in climatology and understood growing seasons. This hypothesis makes perfect sense to winegrowers today, but in 1963 the idea was revolutionary. After graduating from Davis, Coury spent a year at the Alsace Wine Research Station in France which had a climate very similar to Oregon’s. When he returned, Coury was convinced that Pinot Noir would ripen in Oregon, and he headed north to the Willamette Valley in 1965.
According to Kerry McDaniel Doenisch in "Vineyard Memoirs, Oregon Wine Pioneer Recollections of Living, Grape-Growing and Winemaking in the 1970s", Charles Coury came to Oregon with his father and purchased 45 acres with an abandoned vineyard on Rueter Hill near Forest Grove in 1965. Together with his wife Shirley and sister-in-law, Betts Coury, they operated a winery, vineyard and nursery until 1978. The Courys planted 25 acres of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay Gewürztraminer and Riesling and produced wines from each of these varieties. The Coury Winery was sold and became Laurel Ridge Winery. Currently, the site is the David Hill Vineyard & Winery.
Betts Coury said about Charles Coury, “He was ahead of his time. He had all the right ideas about how to start a winery in Oregon - and proved it could be done.” Coury, himself, was quoted as telling Betts, “The reason I moved to Oregon in 1965 was to prove that excellent Burgundian and Alsatian wine grapes could be grown there. California certainly wasn't producing any decent Pinot Noir. For that matter, no one at the time in any part of the United States could really produce a decent Pinot.......but I could, so I did.”
Coury brought back root stock from Alsace and Burgundy and shipped cuttings to the agricultural quarantine port in San Francisco. One of the Pinot Noir selections (it is impossible to verify its exact origins) became known as the Coury clone which is designated Pommard UCD 4. The Pommard clone UCD 4 was brought to Oregon by David Lett and Charles Coury. It produced a flavor profile that was complimentary to the Wädenswil clone and is the most widely planted Pinot Noir clone in Oregon. The Pommard vines that Lett and Coury sold from their nursery became known as the Coury clone. The story is complicated by the fact that some of the so-called Coury clones were Pommard clones that were smuggled into Oregon from Europe in the 1960s and 1970s that produced a slightly different flavor profile.
Therefore, not all Pommard clones in Oregon are exactly alike. In the early 1970s, three Pinot Noir clones were available from Davis: Wädenswil, Pommard and a third minor clone mislabeled as Gamay Beaujolais. There were also a few suitcase clones such as the Coury clone. Early Oregon Pinot Noirs were often a blend of Wädenswil, Pommard UCD 4, and Coury Pommard clones.
Exerpts taken from:
The Prince of Pinot, PinotFile Vol. 7 Issue 22, August 4th 2009
Charles Coury, who wrote a master thesis at Davis titled, “Cold Climate Amelioration Hypothesis,” in which he hypothesized that vinifera varieties produced their best quality wines when ripened just at the limit of their growing season. Coury had a degree from University California Los Angeles in climatology and understood growing seasons. This hypothesis makes perfect sense to winegrowers today, but in 1963 the idea was revolutionary. After graduating from Davis, Coury spent a year at the Alsace Wine Research Station in France which had a climate very similar to Oregon’s. When he returned, Coury was convinced that Pinot Noir would ripen in Oregon, and he headed north to the Willamette Valley in 1965.
According to Kerry McDaniel Doenisch in "Vineyard Memoirs, Oregon Wine Pioneer Recollections of Living, Grape-Growing and Winemaking in the 1970s", Charles Coury came to Oregon with his father and purchased 45 acres with an abandoned vineyard on Rueter Hill near Forest Grove in 1965. Together with his wife Shirley and sister-in-law, Betts Coury, they operated a winery, vineyard and nursery until 1978. The Courys planted 25 acres of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay Gewürztraminer and Riesling and produced wines from each of these varieties. The Coury Winery was sold and became Laurel Ridge Winery. Currently, the site is the David Hill Vineyard & Winery.
Betts Coury said about Charles Coury, “He was ahead of his time. He had all the right ideas about how to start a winery in Oregon - and proved it could be done.” Coury, himself, was quoted as telling Betts, “The reason I moved to Oregon in 1965 was to prove that excellent Burgundian and Alsatian wine grapes could be grown there. California certainly wasn't producing any decent Pinot Noir. For that matter, no one at the time in any part of the United States could really produce a decent Pinot.......but I could, so I did.”
Coury brought back root stock from Alsace and Burgundy and shipped cuttings to the agricultural quarantine port in San Francisco. One of the Pinot Noir selections (it is impossible to verify its exact origins) became known as the Coury clone which is designated Pommard UCD 4. The Pommard clone UCD 4 was brought to Oregon by David Lett and Charles Coury. It produced a flavor profile that was complimentary to the Wädenswil clone and is the most widely planted Pinot Noir clone in Oregon. The Pommard vines that Lett and Coury sold from their nursery became known as the Coury clone. The story is complicated by the fact that some of the so-called Coury clones were Pommard clones that were smuggled into Oregon from Europe in the 1960s and 1970s that produced a slightly different flavor profile.
Therefore, not all Pommard clones in Oregon are exactly alike. In the early 1970s, three Pinot Noir clones were available from Davis: Wädenswil, Pommard and a third minor clone mislabeled as Gamay Beaujolais. There were also a few suitcase clones such as the Coury clone. Early Oregon Pinot Noirs were often a blend of Wädenswil, Pommard UCD 4, and Coury Pommard clones.
Exerpts taken from:
The Prince of Pinot, PinotFile Vol. 7 Issue 22, August 4th 2009
Pinot Noir Coury Clone - Third Year Cluster in Lyle Block
