One of the questions that I am most frequently asked is, why do bottles of wine vary so much in price? Among the many answers is the output of an acre of vineyard. It takes 600 to 800 grapes to make one bottle of wine. One tonne will give you about 60 cases, or 720 bottles.

Today we are going to feature a few wines from Oregon. The cool climate lets the vineyard owner average about 2-2½ tonnes per acre.

Further south in sunny California, the overall state average is about 8 tonnes and this includes vast areas that make everyday wines.

Napa Valley tends to be pricier but here output varies between 3 and 6 tonnes.

A few of the world’s finest and most expensive wines are made from outputs of less than a tonne per acre and they tend to be very complex as they are sharing all of the “goodies” derived from an acre of land with so little fruit.

We find that our customers are taking an interest in Oregon — and so to our high-end wines. We have now added a few at very reasonable prices.

Newly arrived is our Underwood 2014 pinot gris. One hundred per cent of the grapes come from the famous Willamette Valley (remember it is will-am-it damn it, as they tell you in Oregon) and the wine is made and stored in stainless steel, so no oak influence. You will taste bright lemon, pear and apple. $16.65.

Underwood pinot noir is sourced from vineyards spanning the peaks and valleys of this cool growing region and it is a perfect everyday refresher from Walla Walla to the Willamette Valley and Umpqua.

Low elevations give ripeness and intensity, high ground adds acidity and aromatics. The wine begins with pleasant aromas of plum, red and black cherry and a hint of cranberry. It is smooth, easy to drink and ends with a hint of spice. $18.25.

From the same winery, if we go to their next level for $22.95, we find their King’s Ridge 2013 pinot noir.

This actually got a very fine 91/100 rating from Wine and Spirits magazine. For this wine they only use fruit from the Willamette Valley and it shows its well deserved reputation with beautiful raspberry, cherry and floral flavours.

Our Duck Pond Cellars’ pinot noir lies midway as far as prices go. Their 2014 pinot noir showcases fruit from both their Willamette Valley (Pommard clones) and Umpqua valley (Dijon clones) vineyards.

It is sumptuous with a rich, garnet colour, flavours of Bing cherry and red fruits complemented by aromas of earth and spice. Just to give you an idea of what goes on when making a higher level wine, shoot thinning is performed early in the year to limit fruit production, later leaves are removed on the east side of the vines to allow the sun in.

Still later, clusters of grapes are counted on each vine and thinned to a maximum of 28 per vine, and finally all green and second-crop clusters are removed. Because of all this the average yield is only 2 tonnes per acre. $24.95.

Our 2014 Duck Pond pinot gris is their first single vineyard bottling and it hails from their flagship pinot gris site, the St Jory Vineyard in the Salem Hills of Willamette Valley.

2014 was an impeccable growing season and the wine displays heady aromas of jasmine, orange blossom and Kaffir lime. The palate is rich with flavours of tangerine, lime zest and minerals. $18.55.

Oregon is beautiful and if, like in our household, music is held with the same reverence as wine, let me share with you that in Portland, in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on November 21, Melissa Etheridge is performing and it is my birthday weekend.

• This column is a paid for advertorial for Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or 295-0176. Burrows Lightbourn have stores in Hamilton (Front Street East, 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits are available online at www.wineonline.bm