The owner of Merrill Cellars does not call himself a winemaker.

“I don’t have a degree in chemistry,” said O. Jay Merrill. “I’m more of a designer. I stay out of those damp, dark cellars and let other people do that work.”

A die-hard skier and golfer, Merrill grew up in Eugene, has a seaside home in Bandon and produces his wines in Medford and Eugene. But he considers Bend to be his primary home. He got his early wine education while working as a server at Black Butte Ranch and Sunriver Resort. He leapfrogged from ski sales and real estate into wine distribution. After years in the ski industry in California, he returned to Bend as proprietor of Skjersaa’s ski shop. During which time, he founded the Bend Winterfest celebration.

Only about 10 years ago did Merrill get into wine production. Intrigued by possibilities of merging vineyards with property sales in the Umpqua Valley, he enrolled in viticulture studies at the Southern Oregon Wine Institute — and shifted his primary focus to wine.

Now he purchases grapes from prime areas throughout Oregon, focusing on terroir, and directs the custom-crush production of his wines at Medford’s Pallet Wine Co. “Viognier and syrah have perfect terroir in southern Oregon,” he said. “But pinot noir is best from the Willamette Valley when it is grown on south-facing hillsides. I source my pinot near Spencer Butte in south Eugene.”

Although Merrill Cellars is a young company, its wines have won acclaim from the first releases. Merrill’s 2008 Syrah, for instance, earned a 91-point rating from Wine Spectator. So, too, did the 2008 Côte du Rogue Red, a blend of grenache and syrah with petit sirah. The 90 points awarded his 2010 Viognier Reserve were the most ever bestowed upon an Oregon viognier at that time. More recently, his chardonnay and Rioja-style tempranillo have raised eyebrows.

White wines

“I like to experiment,” Merrill confessed. While other vintners hurry to harvest all of their grapes when the first heavy rains of autumn threaten, Merrill leaves his white grapes — his viogniers and chardonnays — on the vine until the leaves start to wither and the grapes begin to shrivel. “When you walk through the vineyards and taste a grape, it should taste like ripe wine,” he said. “Most people pick too early.”

He also likes to make two production wines each year from a single harvest. His 2013 Viognier is a prime example. The Artist Series “Geneva Clone,” aged a year in stainless steel, is “a fruit bomb,” in Merrill’s words. It’s a ripe and juicy wine, low acid, without a lot of complexity. The 2013 Viognier Reserve, by contrast, spent 18 months in neutral oak before it was released. It has notes of pear and citrus, and much more complexity than the Geneva Clone. This is my favorite.

“If you have enough acidity in wine, the wine doesn’t take over the food,” Merrill said. “Wine is there to serve the food, not the other way around.”

Merrill’s two 2014 chardonnays, sourced from the Rogue Valley, also are distinct despite similar one-year aging in stainless steel. With additional time in American oak, the “Bend/Eugene” label has notes of Meyer lemon as well as vanilla and clove. It is higher in acid and is best enjoyed chilled. The “Dundee” label, which had little oak aging, is mellower, with light notes of banana and coconut.

Red wines

Merrill’s new tempranillo wines, inspired in part by the Abacela winery near Roseburg, pay tribute to his Spanish Basque mother, Maria Monserrat: The label, in fact, reads “Merrill-Monserrat Riserva Tempranillo.” Merrill made two separate trips to the Rioja region of northern Spain to study Old Country techniques, he said; as a consequence, he blends 5 to 10 percent garnacha (grenache) into the wine. This injects the tempranillo with better aromatics and softer tannins, he said.

Sourced from the highly rated Steelhead Run vineyard near Jacksonville, the tempranillo grapes are aged two years in oak, then another one to two years in the bottle. In a taste comparison of the 2012 and 2013 wines, I preferred the 2012 with its strong plum and wild cherry overtones. The 2013 tempranillo, harvested during a major forest-fire season in Southern Oregon, has fruit on the nose but a very smoky flavor on the palate. Calling it his “burnt earth” wine, Merrill said it goes well with barbecue. The 2015 Merrill-Monserrat Riserva Tempranillo, scheduled for spring release, should be similar to the 2012, he said.

Most of Merrill’s reds are in the southern Rhône style, and most are blends. The Côte du Rogue (an adaptation of the classic “GSM” style of Côte du Rhone) features three different grapes. The 2012 Merrilltage, a big success at the recent Newport Wine and Food Festival, is 95 percent cabernet franc and about 5 percent merlot. Merrill’s favorite and award-winning syrahs are co-fermented with 5 percent viognier, providing deeper color and better aromatics. The 2014 Pinot Noir, from the Willamette Valley AVA, is a blend of pommard and Dijon 777 clones.

Merrill Cellars has a tasting room in Medford. The winery is represented in Bend at several restaurants, including Joolz, J Dub and the Pine Tavern, and at the Good Drop Wine Shoppe and The Wine Shop and Beer Tasting Bar, both on Minnesota Avenue. Wines may also be ordered from the company website, merrillcellars.com. Most are priced at $29.

— John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.

“If you have enough acidity in wine, the wine doesn’t take over the food. Wine is there to serve the food, not the other way around.”— O. Jay Merril of Merrill Cellars

try this wine