Sometimes what makes a wine great is its score.

Arguably, the wine was great before it received a score in a prominent wine publication. But when a wine earns a high score with the critics, the national or international recognition sells that wine, and likely subsequent vintages as well. Good scores can catapult a wine, winemaker and winery into the spotlight. And some of the most revered critics have been scoring Oregon wines particularly high lately, especially compared to neighboring regions.

Take Colene Clemens Vineyards, a Newberg winery that focuses on pinot noir. Although consistently highly reviewed, this winery broke into Wine Spectator’s top 10 this year, with its 2015 Dopp Creek Pinot Noir ranked seventh out of 100. Try and find a bottle of that vintage somewhere.

All told, Wine Spectator recognized Oregon with six Willamette Valley wines in its Top 100 issue for 2018. That’s 6% of the spots in the top 100 this year, a new record for a state that produces only 1.5% of domestic wines. Read the rest of the story here in The Oregonian.