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High Pass Winery 2023 Pinot Noir Union School Vineyard
From Behind the Iron Curtain
Dieter Boehm grew up in Beierfeld in southern Germany’s Ore Mountains. His father owned a restaurant there, which helped him develop an appreciation for wine early in life.
Unfortunately, Beierfeld was behind the Iron Curtain during Dieter’s younger years. At the age of 25, disillusioned with the East German system, Boehm and a friend escaped across the East German-Czech Republic border and traveled through Austria on their way to West Germany.
Dieter landed in Eugene in 1979, working at a Christmas tree farm and then planting trees for a cooperative (over 100,000 in his career). While living in Eugene, he realized how similar the area’s climate was to Heidelberg, the last place he lived in Germany. He knew the areas along the Neckar River near Heidelberg had vineyards, so why not here in his new home?
On a drive up High Pass Road one summer, Dieter spotted a steep, south-facing hillside covered in golden grasses. That was the precise moment he said “This is it.” He purchased the property for his estate vineyard on High Pass Road in 1984. Vines were planted the following year. After several years of selling his fruit to other wineries, Dieter released his first commercial wine from the 1994 vintage. Today, approximately 80% of the fruit is sold to wineries as large as King Estate in Eugene and as small as Helioterra Wines in Portland.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
High Pass Winery, Junction City, Oregon
2023 Pinot Noir Union School Vineyard
Dark garnet in color, this Union School 2023 Vintage hosts a complex tone of rich cherry and beautiful notes of vanilla and cranberries. Medium tannins and rich body make this Pinot Noir a star of the vintage. These vines grow in Belle Pine soil that is great for water retention, the vineyards nestled in the foothills. As life long stewards of the land, all of the High Pass vineyards are dry farmed sustainably.
After years of cultivating Pinot Noir, Dieter is a firm believer in the centuries-old concept of terroir—the idea that a wine is deeply influenced by the soil, microclimate, and exposure of the region where its grapes are grown. No grape variety reflects these nuances quite like Pinot Noir, which uniquely captures the character of its environment. While this vineyard lies within the greater Willamette Valley, Dieter has long felt the growing area deserved its own distinction. He first petitioned for a sub-AVA under the name Prairie Mountain, a title proposed by the Prairie Mountain Wineries marketing group. However, the TTB rejected the name. Undeterred, Dieter resubmitted the proposal a few months later as the Lower Long Tom sub-AVA. The TTB accepted the petition on January 5, 2018, and in November 2021, the region was officially recognized as a sub-AVA of the Willamette Valley.
A Cellar 503 selection in August 2025, Transplanted Lower Long Tom | Pinot Noir
