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Writer's pictureNeil & Sue Shay

Home At Last… and Thanksgiving!



For those of you who have visited or follow us on social media, you probably are aware that Sue has been Indiana for more than a month, almost six weeks, first doing caregiving support for her mom, and then after Mom’s passing, taking care of her last wishes, the funeral arrangements, and all the subsequent fiscal and legal arrangements that need to be made after one’s passing.   Sue’s back in Oregon, and we hope to pick up where we left off here at Bluebird Hill.


Ellora Butler (1933-2024) was born in Michigan as Ellora DeNoon, and early in her life moved to Indiana, where she met and married Charles W. (Bill Butler,) high school sweethearts who married in 1951 just before Bill enlisted in the Army to serve in the Korean War.  After Bill returned home safely, they settled into married life in Indiana and soon after, Sue, and her younger brother David were born into the baby boomer generation along with millions of others in the mid 1950’s. 

Ellora was also the inspiration for one of our most popular wines, our Mom’s Block Reserve Pinot NoirThis wine’s story has been told briefly in our blog posts before, but right now is a good time for another summary:  In 2011, Neil and Sue moved to the Bluebird Hill property and began clearing the overgrown Christmas trees on the property, in 2013 there was finally enough cleared land for the planting of 300 grape vines on one-quarter of an acre in the southwest corner of the property.  When Ellora heard from Sue that we had planted these 300 Pommard clone Pinot noir vines, she thought it was such a neat adventure that she asked us if she could reimburse us for the purchase of the vines, as a wedding anniversary gift for us.  We accepted on condition that we could name the small block of vines after her.  In the short history of Bluebird Hill, “Mom’s Block” has become one of the best stories we have; the Mom’s Pinot noirs have been lovely wines, vintage to vintage, from the first bottling of Mom’s in 2018 to our current release, the 2021, which is available now in the tasting room.  Mom’s Pinots express well the character of the Pommard Pinot noir clone, aromas including rose petals, cranberry, cherries, leather, earth, and caramel; flavors in Mom’s from year to year have included red and dark cherry, pomegranate, leather, cranberry, anise, and plum. 

Ellora Butler was as pleasant and upbeat as you could expect anyone to possibly be.  She was a long-time volunteer worker at her local hospital and her friends and relatives remember her as a considerate friend, thoughtful, and loving.  As a tribute to “Mom”, we are donating $10 to the American Heart Association for each bottle of Mom’s Block Pinot sold in the tasting room through the end of the year.  We’ll remember her warmly and lovingly every time we take a sip of one of our Mom’s Pinots… 




Moving On: 

Although we wrote about retiring in our last blog post (September 6, 2024), as we alluded to in that post, nothing is happening immediately and the things that are happening are pretty typical for this time of year at home.  Harvest went great, and out in the vineyard things are looking pretty wintery:  most of the leaves have dropped and Neil has been out in the vineyard with the mower mulching leaves.  We decided to ferment more Bluebird Hill wine in 2024, we vinified 5.5 tons of Pinot noir from our south side vineyard block, this wine is currently resting and finishing malolactic fermentation in 15 barrels at Fullerton Winery in Corvallis.  Additionally, we have about 200 gallons of 2024 Estate Pinot gris that will get bottled in December or January. 



The tasting room will be open at least through Christmas of 2024, and it appears most likely at this point that we will be staying put in 2025 and are expecting that the tasting room will remain open for your visits in 2025.  So please, make plans to visit us, Thanksgiving is upcoming, and we will be offering special holiday food and wine pairings for the weekends before and after the Thanksgiving holiday. 



THANKSGIVING 2024:  Thursday, November 28

We wish everyone warm holiday wishes and offer you an invitation to visit us during the long weekends before and after the holiday:  Noon to 5 pm Saturday & Sunday November 22-24, and 11 am to 5 pm Friday through Sunday November 29-December 1.  Reservations are strongly encouraged!  We are offering flights of our wines, and special food and wine pairings, including a wonderful chicken and bean chili that Sue will be preparing, with a sample of cherry cheesecake (sounds like a great match for our port-style dessert wine, no?).  Also, during these two weekends we are offering special sale pricing on our South Block 2021 Reserve Pinot noir (Double Gold Medal winner at the 2024 Portland Seafood and Wine Festival), and our 2022 Flagship Pinot Noir and Flagship Chardonnays.  All three of these wines will be available at an additional 10% off for six and 15% off for twelve bottles (mix and match is fine!) – plus we can bundle these discounts with your wine club discounts for gold, silver, and bronze members.  We are also offering a gift-giving special for  your out of town friends and relatives:  free shipping on a six bottle purchase or free shipping plus an additional 10% off a 12 bottle shipment to one address. 

Additionally, Neil is going to be offering a special barrel tasting opportunity, to take groups through tastings of the 2022 and 2023 Chardonnays and Pinots that are still in tank and barrel.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about our tank- and barrel-fermented Chardonnays and how each of these wines taste on their own and then blended, as we do after one year of aging.  For the Pinots, we will taste several barrels of each of the 22’s and 23’s, to compare the impact of the different vintages, clonal differences, and oak levels on the aromas and flavors of the wine.  Each day of the pre- and post-Thanksgiving weekends, we will offer one barrel room tasting, at 3:00 pm.  These tastings will be by reservation in advance only, and the charge for these tastings will be $25 per person, which will be waived for a six or more-bottle purchase per person.  So please, call or email the winery to sign up for one of these tasting events.   

We look forward to reconnecting with the many of you that we have not seen in a while – please make plans to visit us at the winery during the holidays! 



2736 Medina Rd, Medina, OH 44256, USA


1850 SW Whiteside Dr, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA


RECENT AWARDS AND SCORES: 

Silver Medal/88 Points Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Flagship Chardonnay

Silver Medal Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Reserve Chardonnay


Great Northwest Wine conducts a one-of-a-kind wine competition each October. It’s called The Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition, and the 12th annual judging was staged Oct. 1-2-3, 2024 at the historic Columbia Gorge Hotel & Spa in Hood River, Ore.

They recruit influential wine professionals to join them for this competition at the Columbia Gorge Hotel’s historic Benson Ballroom. Judges nominate as many as 120 Pacific Northwest wines to be invited. The panel then evaluates the wines within a blind competition.

Gold Medal/92 Points Bluebird Hill Cellars 2022 Flagship Chardonnay

Double Gold/Best in Class Red/96 Points Bluebird Hill Cellars 2022 Flagship Pinot Noir

Double Gold Bluebird Hill Cellars 2023 Rosé of Pinot Noir


The Platinum Awards competition is not an open competition. Wineries are invited to submit only wines that have won gold medals in major competitions during the year. Bluebird Hill has scored 9 Platinum Awards in the past 5 years and has now added 2 more Platinum medals to that tally.

Platinum Medal Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Barrel Select Reserve Pinot Noir

Platinum Medal Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Reserve Chardonnay


We know that we have a lot to be thankful for. It's all of you that make it possible for us to live our dreams every day. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and healthy Thanksgiving.  We hope to see you on the Hill or at one of our upcoming events in the near future!   


Best always, Neil and Sue  



 

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