Laurel Ridge Winery wins International Award for 2022 Chasselas Doré

Laurel Ridge Winery grows a rare grape variety called Chasselas Doré in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, and entered in the international competition for the grape in Switzerland, the Mondial du Chasselas. Bringing home a silver award makes them the first US winery to ever medal in the esteemed competition.

Laurel Ridge Winery was purchased in 1974 and began producing wine in 1986. David and Susan Teppola hand-watered their 50 acre estate, pruning and trimming together and doing all the work in the winery that first vintage.

This winery was a lifelong dream of David’s. Now operated by Susan and their daughters, Laurel Ridge is in its second generation but a love of tradition and belief in saving historical grapes is still strong. David planted a tiny parcel of Chasselas Doré on his property in 1980, and is one of only a couple producers producing the variety, along with Eyrie.

This small parcel is now inundated with phylloxera, and they produce smaller amounts of Chasselas Doré every year. But Laurel Ridge plans to plant more of the variety, especially with a phenomenal award won at the Mondial du Chasselas this year.

As Alberty explains in the article, “The APC started the competition in 2012 to showcase the quality of wines made with chasselas, Switzerland’s most widely planted white grape variety. The wines are blind-tasted by an international pool of wine judges, then scored on a 100-point scale.

Approximately 9,000 wines have competed in the Mondial du Chasselas over the years, with the vast majority coming from Swiss producers. At the 2023 Mondial du Chasselas, Laurel Ridge’s entry joined 739 other wines from Switzerland, Germany, France, Canada, England and the United States. Laurel Ridge was one of only two non-Swiss wineries to win a silver or gold medal in 2023.”

Read more about the award in the article at The Oregonian, and congratulations to Laurel Ridge!