Oregon’s wine industry. David followed through by helping create a system at Oregon State University that dealt with all the red tape and mandatory quarantines and allowed both Chardonnay and Pinot noir clones to be imported. These so-called “Dijon” clones were eventually released for planting in 1989.  As the vines have matured, we’ve found we can produce excitingly rich Chardonnay with very minimal influence from oak. 

 

VINEYARDS 

This wine is crafted of grapes from three vineyards in the Chehalem Mountains - Boulder Bluff (23%), Bryan Creek (18.5%), and Love (2%), two sites in the Eola- Amity Hills - Elton Vineyard (34%) and Zenith Vineyard (7.5%), and Stoller Vineyard in the Dundee Hills. 

The contributing vineyards are sited on both basaltic-origin and sedimentary soils. Basaltic (clay loam) soils hold enough moisture to get the vines through our summer drought without irrigation. The sandstone-based sedimentary soils require clean cultivation to reduce competition for moisture and, in warm years, a bit of irrigation.

 

WINEMAKING 

Gentle, whole-cluster pressing was used to separate the juice from the skins as quickly and as cleanly as possible for this Chardonnay. The majority (85%) of the juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks to retain fruit purity, flavor and aroma. The remaining juice was fermented in neutral barrels to augment textural richness and create a more balanced and complex wine. In order to preserve freshness and acidity, this wine did not undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine was bottled on April 13, 2009. 

 

GROWING SEASON

The 2008 growing season began slowly with a cooler than normal spring for the months of March and April. Buds began to open around April 26th giving the growing season a bit of a delayed start. 

Temperatures picked up considerably in May and helped the vines catch up by accelerating shoot growth, but heat accumulation fell short of producing an early June bloom. The favorable conditions surrounding bloom near the end of June continued to influence fruit development well into August. Veraison became apparent in mid August followed by gorgeous ripening conditions in September.  Hand picking began the last week of September and continued well into October, allowing the fruit to fully ripen and bask in what could be called a text book Indian summer for Oregon. Our Chardonnay grapes for this wine were picked from October 8 to the 18th.