Vineyard: 100% Willamette Valley Chardonnay from seven vineyards planted between 1984 and 2019:

20% Durant Vineyard Chardonnay, Dundee Hills

18% Blue Heron Farm, Willamette Valley, South Salem Hills

17% Seven Springs Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills

16% X Omni Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills

16% Von Oehsen Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills

7% Witness Tree Vineyard, Eola-Amity Hills

4% Yamhill Vineyard, Yamhill-Carlton

Vintage: 2022 in a word: miraculous. After a chilly start, the valley experienced a continuous drenching from an atmospheric river throughout the first half of the year. As buds broke in early April, an unseasonable frost between 4/11 and 4/15 caused damage to unfurling buds and tender shoots. Inclement weather persisted through into June, further challenging an already delayed flowering. However, a turn for the better occurred in July and August; the long, warm, dry days became cool nights in both September and October. Harvest commenced in Dundee Hills the morning of 9/23 and concluded in Eola-Amity on 10/15. Yields were better than expected and the quality is especially high from the coolest sites where the impact of the frost was minimal. The vintage has a crystalline, tensile character with wines showcasing distinctiveness of site. These youthful wines are vibrant and chiseled, densely structured with high acidity and extract. 

Vinification: A representational blend of the cellar, nearly every lot was crushed before pressing and the must browned for 6-24 hours before a sulfur addition. Fermentation began in stainless steel with ambient yeasts before lots were transferred with solids to a new and lightly used 228L, 265L, 350L, 400L and 500L Damy French oak as well as a bit of steel. Racked to stainless with fine lees after one year in oak, the final blend is from 28% new, 33% second fill, 45% third and fourth fill, and 8% steel. After six months in stainless, the 2022 Willamette Valley Chardonnay will be bottled 3/19/24 under 49mm DIAM 10 and 48mm CWINE3. Unfined/unfiltered.

Chemistry: 6.7g/L TA | 3.24 pH | 12.75% | <0.50g/L RS | .62g/L VA | <0.10g/L Malic | ~40ppm SO2