2022 Chardonnay

Tasting Note

Our 2022 Willamette Valley Chardonnay jumps out of the glass with a beautiful nose of candied lemon, white flowers, lemon grass and vanilla bean. The palate has nice texture with notes of crisp tree fruit like apples, pears and Meyer lemon along with clean crisp acidity to finish the wine on a refreshing note.

How we make our Chardonnay

Our Willamette Valley Chardonnay is sourced from three local vineyards, hand-picked, and then gently pressed. A portion of the wine is barrel fermented and aged in large French oak barrels for 8 months (10% new). The remaining is fermented in stainless steel tanks. Both portions go through malo-lactic fermentation to help soften the acidity and provide an elegant texture.

The 2022 Vintage

A year that kept us guessing, 2022 was an unusual vintage in the northern Willamette Valley. April brought one of our latest snows on record, with growers worried about frost damage. Thankfully, most vineyard sites set a generous crop which after a slow spring required thinning to encourage ripening. Temperatures finally warmed in August and September, but cool nights ensured adequate hangtime and flavor development. A string of sunny October days gave us the final ripening we desperately needed. Nearly every block of fruit was ready over a compressed two-week period, so the fruit arrived at peak ripeness during a very intense harvest season in the cellar. We expect our hard work to be rewarded with complex, fruit-forward wines.