Remembering Bill Fuller

Bill moved from California to Oregon in 1973 with his family, vine cuttings and a bold vision for cool-climate Pinot Noir. At the time, he was the only practicing professional winemaker to make this leap. His background included lab work at Italian Swiss Colony, a Master’s degree in enology from the University of California, Davis, and nine years as winemaker at Louis Martini Winery. Shortly after arriving in Oregon, Bill partnered with Bill Malkmus to develop a 65-acre site northwest of Forest Grove, naming it Tualatin Vineyards, now one of Oregon’s historic vineyard sites.

Bill Fuller (left) and Willamette Valley Vineyards Founder & President, Jim Bernau (right) 

Throughout his career, Bill achieved numerous industry firsts and earned international acclaim. His Pinot Noir and Chardonnay captured Best of Show honors in both the red and white categories at the 1984 London International Wine Competition, presented by the Queen, an unparalleled achievement in the event’s history. In 1989, his Chardonnay became the first Oregon wine ever selected for the Wine Spectator Top 100 list.

In 2025, Bill celebrated the release of his 50th Oregon vintage as a consulting winemaker at Willamette Valley Vineyards, where he continued to innovate and mentor. Among his most enduring testaments is the Old Vine Pinot Noir he planted over five decades ago. These self-rooted vines still produce fruit today, a testament to his foresight and dedication.

Vintage 50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

A true leader and advocate for the Oregon wine industry, Bill co-founded the Oregon Winegrowers Association and served multiple terms as its president. He also served on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, helping guide technical and educational advancement in winemaking. Together with his first wife, Virginia, he played a key role in establishing Oregon’s blue winery directional signage program, which remains an essential resource for wine tourism today.

Bill retired following the merger of Tualatin Vineyards with Willamette Valley Vineyards in 1997, but his passion for winemaking never waned. In 2013, he returned to craft limited-edition wines and to share his techniques and philosophy with a new generation of winemakers. His collaborations continued into recent years, selecting fruit from his favorite blocks at Tualatin Estate Vineyard to produce his Vintage Series wines, sharing stories of his early years and bringing friends to the vineyard tasting room for wine releases.

In an interview between Bill and Oregon Wine History Archive in 2015, he reminisced, “I was retired for ten years and then Willamette [Valley Vineyards] comes along and wants to know would I make wine again, and you know, you don't do something as long as I did it and as intensely as I did it without missing it when it's gone. It just leaves a big hole right there and so, it's good for an old guy's ego to get called back.” 

Bill Fuller (left) and Director of Winemaking & Vineyards Terry Culton (right)

In 2022, he partnered with Director of Winemaking and Vineyards Terry Culton to produce a trio of Alsatian-style wines, including a Dry Gewürztraminer sourced from his original Oregon plantings, a grape that was one of Bill’s favorites to work with.

“Right to the end, he had an amazing palate,” Terry said, recalling a recent tasting where Bill noticed a bottle of his first Pinot Noir from 1975 sitting nearby. Bill mentioned more than once, ‘We really should open that.’ “I told him, ‘I can’t open that, but you can,’” Terry said.

Fifty years after making the wine, Bill took a corkscrew and opened the bottle. The wine, Terry recalled, “was still holding up and still tasting amazing.”