Lenné Estate winery founder Steve Lutz developed a passion for wine shortly after graduating from the University of Oregon, and moved to Napa Valley to work and learn in cellars and tasting rooms at Beringer, Franciscan, Inglenook, Vichon and Merryvale Vineyards. While in Napa, he made his first homemade pinot in 1986 and was immediately hooked on the challenges and rewards of pinot.
Steve returned to Oregon in 1999, and established Lenné Estate, a classic Willamette Valley winery: small, family-owned, entirely estate-grown, intensely focused on well-balanced Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that express soils and climate. While the Lenné winery is now in new hands, Steve is contemplating his next role in the vastly expanded Oregon wine world, extending his involvement out to the far eastern edges of the state in the Rocks of Milton-Freewater AVA.
Steve and his wife Karen look forward to exploring Bordeaux with you as Wine Hosts.