On the western side of Oregon, where the ocean meets the coast, there's a romantic valley, some 150 miles long and running north to south, of small towns and family-owned vineyards, just like what you imagine in a postcard.

It's called the Willamette Valley.

In the late 1960s and early '70s, some winemakers migrated up from California, a few steps ahead of Silicon Valley excess. Here in the Willamette Valley, among the misty mountains, they quietly planted pinot noir and chardonnay grapes.

They built community, shared meals, knowledge and vines.

They flourished.

Funny thing about little Willamette Valley. Latitudinally? It's on the same geographic line as another spot famous in the wine world.

"It parallels Burgundy and the north of France," said Bill Hull.

Bill Hull is the in-house wine expert - "the wine guy" - at Pruett's Market, the Signal Mountain grocery store. Not long ago, he and wife Eleanor and Chuck and Cathy Pruett traveled to the northern stretch - about 50 miles - of the Willamette Valley to meet winemakers and tour vineyards.

They brought back some wine for the rest of us.

Wine ... and stories.

Over four days, they toured eight vineyards, some marked with unpretentious, homemade signs nailed to light posts - "vineyard, 1/4 mile, turn right" - and others full of biodynamic care: beehives, orchards and solar panels. They rode in 4x4s with vintners across vineyards, talked grape varietals in gravel parking lots, shared Pinots with winemakers who are also pouring thousands of dollars into local community: new soccer fields, scholarships for farming students, jobs for their parents.

These are winemakers producing 100s of cases, not 1000s.

"Two or three generations of winemakers work together and eat together with that cooperative spirit you don’t find other places," Bill said.

This Thanksgiving and holiday season, if you're putting wine on your table, Bill suggests you consider Willamette Valley wines.

"It’s kind of a rising star in the world of wine," he said. "They are stealing some of the thunder from California."

Walk in the front doors at Pruett's, turn right, and just before the bakery and stone oven, you'll see Bill and the aisle of wine he curates.

"This is my little 60 feet," he said.

Years ago, Bill was the wine guy at The Vine, the wine store adjacent to Greenlife Grocery, also owned by the Pruett's. Back then, there were three or four wine distributors in Chattanooga, he remembers.

"Now, they're 11," he said.

Greenlife became Whole Foods and Pruett's, too, underwent a transformation. Chuck and Cathy redid much of the store, turning Pruett's into possibly the last remaining family-owned grocery store that feels more like a community market.

Distributors have told him:

Pruett's offers the best wine selection in any grocery store in East Tennessee or North Georgia.

Yet none of it feels snobby or pretentious. At Pruett's - with sustainable, organic wines, big labels and $10 bottles - the intention is clear: wine for everyone and every pocketbook.

"On certain weeks, I sell more Bota Boxes than Publix on the North Shore," he laughed.

Bill's funny like your favorite uncle, brilliant like a college professor, kind like someone whose ego isn't involved.

"Crack open a beautiful bottle of Burgundy Pinot Noir and read the great novel or drop a piece of ice in your wine and watch 'Dancing with the Stars'," he said. "Wine should be something you enjoy. It is a moment of pleasure and relaxation. This isn’t a contest."

"I can get a little geeky."

Let's geek out.

First, the name. Willamette is pronounced Wi-LAM-ette, not Will-a-met. Bill's aunt - a high society lady from Portland - liked to say: it's Willamette, damnit.

"It's the only time I heard her curse," he said.

In the 1980s, the Drouhin family, prestigious, century-old French winemakers, bought land there. Bill called that the "gold seal of approval."

Napa became, well, Napa while the Willamette Valley, damnit, formed its own identity.

"Napa has these gorgeous places with limousines and the hoi polloi of the wine world," he said. "The Willamatte Valley is the opposite."

"The California vineries are Silicon Valley guys. The tech giant who bought a vineyard. Millionaires. They often love wine, but there is a 'trophy' aspect to these purchases. They aren't real vintners doing the farming work."

"The Willamette Valley is the other way around."  

So, the Hulls and Pruetts went for a visit.

"Our idea was to go meet the people and walk the land and learn more about the wines and see why they do what they do," he said.

"Connecting with this source. Sustainable, organic, biodynamic."

They toured:

• Ken Wright Cellars.

"We rode out to the vineyard and walked for an hour as he described the soil block and the history of Chardonnay in the region.

"He told us what they are growing and how they are growing it and how they take care of the soil. When you do organic and sustainable farming, the health of the soil is critical.

"This is a town of five or six blocks. It's very much an old farming town with the classic metal grain silo right in the middle on a main street. And he's building soccer fields for the community. He just ordered lights. He's giving loans to farming students. They are committed to helping people who live there."

• Brooks Wine

"It's a family affair. Their logo is the ouroboros, the dragon eating its tail to live. It's mythological.

"The vineyard is fully biodynamic. It's a really beautiful place. There's an enormous garden with bee hives and pollinators working the olive trees. He refers to Rudolf Steiner, who said: 'for agriculture, you need a village. You need an environment.'

"They're creating an environment that can almost sustain itself in every way."

• Brianne Day

"She's been all over the world. She came back and started making wine. She sources grapes from regional growers. Her tasting room has a gravel parking lot with a big shed building.

"She's got local grapes in her car. She makes a White Blend that we carry called 'Vin de Days', a nod to the French term for 'wine of the country'. She's about as small as small gets. That’s the kind of person we like to represent. A person doing something really different."

Hmmm, sounds like someone else we know.

"I read a lot," Bill said. "It’s an endless little world. Like music and literature, you can go forever."

Years ago, Bill was working in Buckhead at the Atlanta History Center. Then, the Chattanooga Regional History Museum. Then, The Vine.

(A little fact for the Bill Hull fan club: he's written and published a five-book series on Chattanooga history.)

History, literature and wine all flow together for him; he's earned his WSET Level 2 Certification, but calls himself "self-educated." In 2016, when state legislators allowed grocery stores to sell wine, Cathy Pruett relocated the idea and essence of The Vine into Pruett's, which created its own wine shop inside a grocery.

Bill became its "wine guy."

Over the years, he's built a following of customers and friends. On Instagram, he posts monthly wine videos, casually sitting at a Pruett's picnic table, discussing the taste, history, quality and pairings.

Recently, he posted a three-part series on Willamette Valley wines.

"I get a joy with connecting somebody with a good bottle of wine. I love it when somebody comes back to me - 'that really hit the spot. It really made my day.' I feel like I’m adding a little joy to people's day," he said.

Bill has lived long enough - (Me: how old are you, Bill? Him: "Old enough to know better.") - to appreciate the power of simple pleasures in life. Beehives near olive trees. "Dancing with the Stars." The good glass of wine grown with care.

So, each day, strolling up and down his 60 feet of wines from around the world - sustainable, biodynamic, produced from conscientious and thoughtful growers - he knows his purpose.

"Putting a good bottle of wine in somebody's hand," he said. "I do really believe wine tends to bring people together."

This holiday, remember the Willamette Valley and Pruett's wine guy.  

"I've seen people fight when drinking whiskey and beer," he said. "But I haven’t seen anybody fight when drinking wine."

"Holidays can be the exception," someone nearby added.

Damnit.

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This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.