Soter Vineyards was started by Tony and Michelle Soter in the late 1990s. For both of them it was a return home. Tony and Michelle were raised in Portland, but the couple spent 20 years in Napa Valley where Tony Soter was a much-admired winemaking consultant for such producers as Araujo, Dalle Valle, Shafter and Viader. He started his own Etude Wines label in 1982 and sold it to Beringer Blass in 2000 to concentrate on his Oregon venture. Soter Vineyards is located at Mineral Spring Ranch in the Yamhill-Carlton appellation. It includes 30 acres of Pinot Noir and two acres of Chardonnay. Wine Advocate wrote that “Tony Soter has been making wine in his native state for long enough now that this iconic figure of California wine history can be said to have achieved a similar status in Oregon.”