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Raptor Ridge Winery 2024 Estate Tuscowallame Vineyard Gruner Veltliner
Where Owls Dwell
It all started with excited conversations over lunch between two professionals in the tech industry about a dream. After a decade of making wine in the garage, Scott and Annie Shull started Raptor Ridge back in 1995. They make great wine, but their influence extends far beyond the bottle.
One of my favorite things about the Oregon wine community is the collaboration. Winemakers here feel very little sense of competition with each other – they believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. (Or maybe it’s just a mutual desire to beat out our larger producing neighbor states both to the south & north.)
Whether it’s sharing a piece of equipment when one breaks down, sharing glass with a neighbor when they’ve run out right in the middle of bottling, or mentoring young winemakers, the Oregon wine community is unique in its collaborative attitude.
During my travels in the Willamette Valley, I’ve heard Scott’s name mentioned again and again as a friend, a mentor, and the guiding presence behind dozens of winemakers. Two Cellar 503 partners, Leah Jørgensen Cellars and Atticus Wines, credit Scott’s guiding influence in their success.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Raptor Ridge Winery, Newberg, Oregon
2024 Estate Tuscowallame Vineyard Gruner Veltliner
Tuscowallame is an indigenous word meaning "place where the owls dwell".
Our Tuscowallame Estate is one of only 29 growing sites for Grüner Veltliner in North America. Scott Shull embarked on the journey to make an American version of this Austrian star after a delightful and enlightening experience dining on Thai food and quaffing Austrian Grüner Veltliner while on a market visit to the midwest. True to its original inspiration, this wine is a fantastic compliment to spicy, exotic fare as well as a delightful companion to seafood and more delicate continental dishes such as flaky white fish, pork, and chicken. Weightier and more textured than its Alsatian counterparts, the Raptor Ridge Tuscowallame Estate Grüner Veltliner is an outstanding, well-loved, and continually highly scoring component of our story. Serve at 50 degrees in Burgundy glasses for the optimum experience.
Planted in three phases beginning in 2000 and ending in 2007, Tuscowallame Vineyard is situated on an east-southeast facing slope approximately 25 miles southwest of Portland at elevations between 250-498 feet. Named for an indigenous term meaning “place where the owls dwell,” the 18 acre vineyard is planted to several clones of Pinot Noir as well as Grüner Veltliner on Loess-based Laurelwood soils. This vineyard owned by Scott & Annie Shull was included in the new Laurelwood sub-AVA created in 2019. In 2022 we added drainage tiles to the lower section of the vineyard allowing for even drainage and even ripening of the block.
Reviews
93 - Wine Enthusiast
91 - Owen Bargreen
A Cellar 503 selection in November 2025, Grateful Chehalem Mountains | Grüner Veltliner
