Dick Erath, wine pioneer in Oregon and Arizona, dead at 87

Richard Ruelas
Arizona Republic

Dick Erath, the winemaker whose Pinot Noir sparked the wine industry in Oregon, and who, in supposed retirement, bought a vineyard in southern Arizona and shepherded this state’s nascent wine industry, has died. He was 87.

Erath was an electronics engineer in California when he acquired grapes from a friend’s vineyard in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The results, fermented in his garage, convinced him that Oregon grapes make world-class wines.

He planted a vineyard in the Dundee Hills of Oregon in 1968. He watched the region flourish as his wines gained acclaim. Erath’s 1984 bottling of Pinot Noir was named the best in America by Wine and Spirits magazine.

Erath had long visited Arizona to escape Oregon’s rainy climate. He bought a house in the Green Valley area, south of Tucson, in 1995. He planted a few vines of Zinfandel, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese in his backyard. He was intrigued by the wine it produced.

In 2004, Erath wanted to plant an experimental vineyard and, working with a professor from the University of Arizona, found land in the Kansas Settlement area south of Willcox. Erath bought 40 acres of the sandy-soiled land and prepared to plant what, at the time, was one of the largest vineyards in Arizona.

Land prices in the Willcox area went up after word went out that Erath had invested in Arizona. The region currently grows most of the grapes used for wine in Arizona. The top award winners in the 2023 azcentral Arizona Wine Competition were all made from grapes grown in the region.

Erath said, during a 2009 interview with The Arizona Republic, that he had planted his Oregon vineyard on the cheap. With his Arizona vineyard, he was able to invest more cash, thanks, in part, to a windfall created by the Oscar-nominated movie, “Sideways.”

In the 2004 film, a wine snob character played by Paul Giamatti is a fan of Pinot Noir wine. He also, in a signature scene, profanely tells his friend he refuses to drink any Merlot.

Merlot sales suffered in the wake of the film, while Pinot Noir sales soared. The mega-winemaker Chateau St. Michelle had no Pinot Noir in its portfolio and offered to buy Erath’s namesake winery. He agreed.

Erath said that when figuring out what to plant in Oregon, he looked at world regions with hilly, wet climates. For Arizona, he looked at regions like Argentina, Spain and southern France. Erath thought Tempranillo and Picpoul blanc grapes would fare well in Arizona, but said he was open to new possibilities.

“You take everything you learned in Oregon and turn it upside down,” he said, while touring his vineyard with The Republic in 2009. “You try to figure out how to extrapolate it to Arizona.”

Dick Erath walks through his Cimarron Vineyard with Todd Bostock near Willcox sampling grapes to see if they are ready for harvest in 2009.

Erath had the grapes from his Cimarron vineyard made into wine by Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas WineWorks. Bostock eventually managed the Cimaron vineyard and used it for his own label as Erath went into true retirement.

In 2009, Erath predicted the region would explode with vineyards as interest in the state’s wines grew.

“Not a lot of people take Arizona wine seriously,” he said, while watching his grapes get processed at Dos Cabezas. “I take it seriously.”