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Four decades of Pinot Noir Celebrations come to an end

Over the past couple of days here in the Willamette Valley, we have seen a bit of a cool down in the weather. A spot of rain. Temperatures in the 70s. This is not necessarily unusual for the region. But ask any veterans of one of the best wine events ever imagined and executed (The International Pinot Noir Celebration—IPNC) and they will tell you anything less than insufferable heat this time of year is highly unusual.

Those veteran attendees of IPNC along with other lovers of Pinot Noir won’t have to worry about temperatures in the high 90s during the annual July event in the Willamette Valley. The 37th International Pinot Noir Celebration carried out during beautiful weather last week will be the last IPNC.

The three-day Pinot-centered event consisted of vineyard tours, seminars, tastings, and dinners all centered around the bucolic Linfield University in McMinnville. The attraction (besides communing with other Pinot Noir fanatics) was the participation of upwards of 70+ of the most dedicated and celebrated Pinot producers from around the globe with a certain bias for Oregon producers. The tradition of holding an outdoor salmon bake on the last night during which participants dined on wood-charred whole salmon while pouring and passing around wines of spectacular origin and provenance was always the highlight.

I attended IPNC four different times, either on my own, invited as a writer, representing clients, and once as an employee of a sponsor. Three of the four times I suffered along with others due to heat. But this isn’t the most memorable part of these experiences. My most memorable moment at IPNC was this: