Domaine Serene’s co-founder Ken Evenstad dies

Ken Evenstad, the charismatic co-founder of leading Oregon estate Domaine Serene in the Willamette Valley, has died.

Ken Evenstad and his wife Grace founded Domaine Serene in Oregon’s Willamette Valley in 1989

As reported by Wine Spectator, Evenstad died at home on 21 October from ongoing pulmonary issues. He was 77 years old.

Spotting the potential of the region early on, he and his wife Grace first settled in the Willamette Valley in 1989 when Oregon’s wine industry was still in its infancy, purchasing a 17-hectare estate in the Dundee Hills.

The estate is named after their daughter, while their first vineyard, Mark Bradford Evenstad, is named on honour of their son.

Over the last 30 years the pair have grown their vineyard holdings to 121 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, turning their estate into a tourist destination in the process and helping to put Oregon wines on the map.

Domaine Serene produces wines from six vineyard estates planted exclusively with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Each estate offers a diversity of soils, clones, rootstocks, microclimates, slopes and elevations that add complexity and elegance to the wines. Their top drop, Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir, has won numerous awards.

In 2001, the Evenstads completed construction of their five-level, gravity flow Pinot Noir winery, and this spring they launched a winery dedicated to the production of Chardonnay and sparkling wine.

“There are many things about Ken that I admired. He dared to trust his palate, which told him that Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley was world-class.

“That trust led to a serious investment in the Oregon wine industry that helped raise our visibility,” Domaine Serene’s first winemaker, Ken Wright, told Wine Spectator.

Born in Minnesota on 9 July 1943, Evenstad had a successful career in pharmaceuticals before joining the wine trade, graduating with a degree in pharmacy from the University of Minnesota in 1967.

As reported by Wine Spectator, he married Grace shortly after graduating and bought Minneapolis pharmaceutical company Upsher-Smith from Grace’s uncle in 1969, developing numerous drug patents over the next two decades and turning the struggling firm into a US$1.5 billion company.

Having developed a taste for California Cabernet, Ken soon expanded his wine horizons to Burgundy, then latterly, Oregon. In 2015 he and Grace snapped up Château de la Crée in the Côte d’Or.

“Owning legendary vineyards in Burgundy is a dream come true. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make wines from famous vineyards like Morgeot in Chassagne-Montrachet, Clos des Angles in Volnay, and La Garenne in Puligny-Montrachet, where world-class wines have been made for centuries,” Evenstad said on purchasing the estate. He is survived by his wife Grace, daughter Serene, son Mark, and six grandchildren.