Oregon has long made a compelling argument for its place among the world’s great wine regions. But when it comes to sparkling wine, the argument required more than exceptional fruit—it required a standard.
That standard is Method Oregon.
Andy Lytle, founder of Lytle-Barnett, and Director of Winemaking Andrew Davis were among the founding members of Method Oregon, the organization that established and now champions the formal designation for traditional method sparkling wines produced in the state. The mission—and it is a genuine one—is to do for Oregon what a century of tradition has done for the great sparkling wine regions of the world: codify excellence, demand rigor, and build a legacy worthy of the terroir.
Method Oregon’s mission statement says it plainly: to champion the art of traditional method sparkling wine, uniting Oregon’s exceptional terroir with the time-honored techniques of Champagne, and to establish Oregon as America’s premier region for world-class sparkling wine.
We believe that. We helped write it.
The Method Oregon designation is not a marketing category—it is a production commitment. To carry the mark, wines must be made exclusively from Oregon-grown fruit, with every step of production—fermentation, bottling, riddling, disgorgement—completed in-state. Secondary fermentation must occur in the bottle, and wines must age on the lees for a minimum of twenty-four months before disgorgement. The standard also mandates sustainable farming practices, moving toward organic and LIVE-certified viticulture by 2029. Oregon’s diverse growing regions provide the raw material; the standard ensures that what happens next is worthy of it.
Each July, Method Oregon hosts its signature grand tasting—an annual gathering of the state’s finest traditional method producers, open to discerning enthusiasts and trade professionals who want to understand, in one room, what Oregon sparkling wine has become. It is, without hyperbole, one of the most compelling single-category tasting events on the American wine calendar.
Lytle-Barnett pours at the grand tasting every year—and considers it one of the privileges of having helped build this movement. The conversation in that room is unlike any other: producers, enthusiasts, and trade professionals gathered around a shared conviction that Oregon sparkling wine isn’t an emerging story.
It has arrived.