2024
Vintage report forthcoming…
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/10/24
Witness Tree Vineyard - 9/16/24
X Novo Vineyard - 9/16/24
X Omni Vineyard Block 5 - 9/20/24
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/21/24
Shea Vineyard - 9/23/24
Temperance Hill Vineyard - 9/28/24
Koosah Vineyard Block 15 - 9/29/24
Lily Springs Vineyard - 9/30/24
Koosah Vineyard Block 7 - 10/1/24
Gregory Ranch Vineyard - 10/3/24
X Omni Vineyard Block 4 - 10/3/24
Blue Heron Vineyard - 10/10/24
Releasing Spring and Fall 2026
2023
Vintage report forthcoming…
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/6/23 and 9/11/23
Witness Tree Vineyard - 9/7/23
von Oehsen Vineyard - 9/11/23
X Omni Vineyard Block 5 - 9/15/23
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/16/23
Koosah Vineyard Block 7 - 9/18/23
The Eyrie Vineyards - 9/18/23
Koosah Vineyard Block A - 9/19/23
Blue Heron Vineyard - 9/20/23
Temperance Hill Vineyard - 9/21/23
X Omni Vineyard Block 4 - 9/22/23
Releasing Spring 2025
2022
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.
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/23/22
Witness Tree Vineyard - 9/26/22
von Oehsen Vineyard - 10/1/22
Seven Springs Vineyard Block B - 10/3/22
X Omni Vineyard Block 5 - 10/7/22
Seven Springs Vineyard Block E - 10/8/22
Temperance Hill Vineyard - 10/9/22
Blue Heron Vineyard - 10/11/22
Yamhill Vineyard - 10/13/22
X Omni Vineyard Block 4 - 10/15/22
Releasing Spring 2024
2021
Bud break occurred during a warm week in mid-April, and May was warm and dry. After an early start to bloom, the second week of June brought cooler, breezy, and humid weather, with 1.25 inches of rain. Flowering finished closer to average timing in the second and third weeks of June. At the end of the month, a strong high-pressure system trapped extreme heat in the valley for three days, causing daytime highs to reach 115°F and causing the vines to shut down. July was seasonably warm and dry, with the heat intensifying towards the end of the month. Early August was hot and dry, reaching a peak of 105° F in the second week before cooling off towards the end of the month. September was a very pleasant month, with warm days, cool evenings, and just enough precipitation. I began picking in the Dundee Hills on August 30th and I finished in the Eola-Amity Hills on September 22nd. The wines are brilliant, crystalline and complex with well-defined site character.
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 8/30/21
Fairview Vineyard - 8/30/21
Belle Colline Vineyard - 9/6/21
Seven Springs Vineyard Block B - 9/7/21
X Omni Vineyard Block 5 - 9/8/21
Seven Springs Vineyard Block E - 9/10/21
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/11/21
Koosah Vineyard - 9/15/21
X Omni Vineyard Block 4 - 9/16/21
Temperance Hill Vineyard - 9/22/21
Releasing Spring 2023
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Seven bottlings were created from the 2021 vintage: Willamette Valley, Seven Springs Vineyard, X Omni Vineyard, Durant Vineyard, Eola Amity Hills, Pink Label, and Marine. The 2021 vintage is one of the most fascinating in the history of Willamette Valley: a very hot, very dry vintage yielded amazing fruit with ripe phenolics, and near perfect acidity at 12.7-13%. The best Pink Label yet is 95% X Omni vineyard, pure, chalky, mineral-laden chardonnay with just a hint of strawberry cream pinot musk. Drink anytime with a decant or hold for as long as you can. Willamette Valley feels steely, mineral and dense, but it aged in a quarter new puncheons from an amazing set of vineyards.. Hold until 2025 or 2026, or decant. Durant Vineyard is a like tight beam of pure citrus rock water, lean but with just enough weight. Hold until 2025, or decant. Seven Springs Vineyard is airy, dense and textured. It is drinking well already, but it will improve in the cellar. Decant and drink, or hold until 2024 or 2025. X Omni Vineyard is layered, complex but reticent. Hold until 2027. Eola-Amity Hills is broader, rich, decadent. Hold until 2024, or decant. Marine is bright, mineral and welcoming already. Drink or hold.
Drink or hold Pink Label and Marine. Hold Willamette Valley, Durant, Seven Springs, X Omni, Eola-Amity Hills, or decant. The 2021’s will age effortlessly for a decade.
2020
A warm, dry spring saw bud break in mid-April, perhaps a week earlier than in 2018 and 2019. The first three weeks of June were cold and wet, which severely restricted fruit set during flowering. July started out cooler than normal but gave way to dry, warm days and cool nights, which allowed low yields to ripen evenly. The stage was set for promising quality but minuscule quantity, and I was ready to pick the warmest sites by Labor Day Weekend. On the afternoon of September 8th, powerful east winds began blowing, pulling smoke into the valley from the northeast. Despite this, the first pick in Dundee Hills was made in the dark morning of 9/9. Between September 9th and September 10th, numerous local wildfires started, and the valley was filled with smoke. Ripening halted, and conditions were grim until rain and west winds on September 16th and 17th refreshed the air. It was a tragic week and a half, as millions of acres of land burned and thousands of families lost their homes, businesses, and in the worst cases, their lives. With this in mind, I chose to remain steadfast and support my farmers. Winemaking protocols were adjusted - pressing was quick, gentle with lower juice yield targets. All the juice was browned for 12 hours before a small sulfur addition. Nearly every lot was settled with highly refined organic yeast hulls to clarify the must and drop out any possible volatile phenols. After racking off, a fermenting pied de cuve from each lot was added in tank, before fermenting must was transferred to only new, once and second fill puncheons to build structure around the wines. Ambient yeast fermentations progressed rapidly, and zero lees stirring was employed. If malolactic did not engage immediately upon dryness, cultured bacteria was added. The wines were sulfured hard after malolactic completed and racked off lees a few weeks earlier than normal into stainless steel. Blending was minimized so that I could follow each lot. Finished alcohols range from 12.4% - 13.4%. Bottled February 2022.
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/9/20
The Eyrie Vineyards - 9/19/20
X Omni Vineyard Block 5 - 9/20/20
Loubejac Vineyard - 9/21/20
Seven Springs Vineyard - 9/22/20
X Omni Vineyard Block 4 - 10/1/20
Yamhill Vineyard - 10/2/20
Released Spring 2022
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Eight bottlings were created from the 2020 vintage: Willamette Valley, Eola-Amity Hills, two from Seven Springs Vineyard, a normal label and Grey Label, Marine, Durant Vineyard, X Omni Vineyard, and Eyrie Vineyard. I am contented with the wines, I encourage the youthful exuberance to be embraced. Willamette Valley is steely, crisp, subtly spiced. Drink now. Eola-Amity Hills is bright, salty, creamy, a whisper of smoky minerality. Drink now. Marine is coiled and fresh, just plush enough. Drink now. Durant Vineyard is vibrant but creamy, with lovely texture. Drink now. The normal Seven Springs Vineyard is a touch softer and looser at 13.2%, than Seven Springs Vineyard Grey Label, which is chiseled and firm at 12.7%. They are best enjoyed side by side, drink now. I am amazed at X Omni Vineyard’s complexity, it is layered, vibrant and dense. I am encouraged by X Omni, drink over the next two years, by 2025. I absolutely adore Eyrie Vineyard - it is weightless, delicate, coiled with tremendous density, extract and structure. Drink by 2025.
I encourage enjoying the 2020 wines in their youth for maximum enjoyment.
2019
Bud break took place during the second and third week of April, and was followed by full bloom around June 10th. The summer was markedly cooler than 2014-2018, with only a few days above 90ºF. Atypical summer showers and humidity built mildew pressure during the summer, followed by low-pressure systems in September and October. By all estimates, 2.25 inches of rain fell between the second week of September and the first week of October. It was a lot of rain, and yet, what could've been messy is, without a doubt, one for the ages. Pick dates were strategic, if possible, though wet weather imposes constraints. The first pick was before the rains started, on 9/7/19 in the Dundee Hills, from a block of 20-year-old Dijon clone at 20.7º Brix. I waited another 19 days to pick again. The last pick was on 10/7 in Eola-Amity, from a block with 15 distinct clones at 20.5º Brix. Native yeasts were robust, fermentations progressed rapidly. Each site’s fermentation pace and curve were unique. With such great fermentations, the compacting lees will be phenomenal, and generous in building weight, density, and texture into these charming, weightless, young wines. High levels of reduction: decant! Finished alcohols range between 12% - 13.2%, averaging 12.7%.
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/7/19
Seven Springs Vineyard - 9/26/19
Loubejac Vineyard - 9/26/19
The Eyrie Vineyards - 9/27/19
Yamhill Vineyard - 10/1/19
X Omni Vineyard Block 5 - 10/1/19
X Omni Vineyard Block 4 - 10/7/19
Released Spring 2021
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Nine bottlings were created from the 2019 vintage: Pink Label, Willamette Valley, Seven Springs Vineyard, X Omni Vineyard, Eyrie Vineyard, Dundee Hills, Eola Amity Hills, Marine and Memorie II. The 2019 vintage is the best in the history of Willamette Valley. There is moderate to high reduction in most of the wines - please cellar this vintage for as long as you can, and decant. Pink Label is bright pink liquid lightning. Drink anytime or hold for as long as you can. Willamette Valley is tensile, bright and firmly reductive. Hold until 2025, or decant. Seven Springs Vineyard is pure flint perfection. Hold until 2027, or decant. X Omni Vineyard is the best wine I have ever made, and seems less reductive than it is. Hold until 2028, or decant. Eyrie Vineyard feels closed and reticent, but with only subtle reduction. Hold until 2026. Both Eola-Amity Hills and Dundee Hills are phenomenal, and firmly reductive. Hold until 2025, or decant. Marine is searingly fresh, but deep and long. Hold for as long as you can. Memorie II is the second bottling from a solera of every wine I’ve ever made 2014-2019. It has been matured for you, drink now.
Drink Memorie II anytime. Drink or hold Pink Label and Marine. Hold Willamette Valley, Seven Springs, X Omni, Eyrie, Eola-Amity Hills, Dundee Hills. The 2019’s will age gracefully for 10-20 years.
2018
The defining feature of 2018 is the lack of rainfall we received in the Willamette Valley throughout the growing season. After a normal bud break in mid-April, flowering was protracted. Consistently warm and dry summer days were followed by cool and dry nights. As hydric stress tempered berry and cluster size, accumulation of sugar began advancing quicker than flavor development. As cooler daytime temperatures arrived in late August, physiological ripeness began to catch back up. Scattered rain showers in the middle of the second week of September were followed by a stretch of beautiful fall days and nights. The rain quenched the parched soils, though cool temperatures prevented spread of much disease pressure. Fruit was harvested with moderate acidity, moderate to high sugars with ripe flavors. While the wines were brilliant young, I now find the wines creamy, soft and generous than I prefer.
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/10/18
Seven Springs Vineyard - 9/20/18
Loubejac Vineyard - 9/26/18 and 9/27/18
AlexEli Vineyard - 9/28/18
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/28/18
The Eyrie Vineyards - 10/2/18
Released Spring 2020
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Eight bottlings were created from the 2018 vintage: Willamette Valley, Durant Vineyard, Seven Springs Vineyard, Eyrie Vineyard, Volcanic, Marine Pink Label and Memorie I. The 2018 vintage was very dry, and warm. The wines were precocious, showing well early. Willamette Valley is drinking well now, vibrant, chalky and fresh. Drink anytime through 2025. Seven Springs Vineyard is starting to soften and show creamy nuttiness. Drink in 2023 or 2024. Durant Vineyard is the best in the cellar. Shy and delicately flinty, it blossoms with air. Drink anytime through 2026 or 2027. Eyrie Vineyard is bright for how deep, rich and textural it is. Drinking quite well already, drink through 2025 or 2026. Volcanic is rocky, mineral, a whisper flinty, it opens with air. Drink anytime, through 2028. Marine is bright and fresh with some curves. Drink in 2023 or 2024. Pink Label’s pure rocky minerals cut with strawberries and cream. One puncheon topped with Pinot lees. Drink anytime through 2024. Memorie I is the first bottling from a solera of every wine I’ve ever made 2014-2018. It has been aged for you. Drink Memorie I anytime.
Drink Seven Springs and Marine now. Drink Pink Label, Willamette Valley, and Eyrie over next few years. Drink or hold Durant and Volcanic. The 2018’s are best to enjoy on the younger side, and will begin to express much softer and rounder as you cellar them. I encourage enjoying the wines now.
2017
After a cool start and slightly later bud break and flowering, June and July were warm and dry. Yields were slightly high. Some very hot days in August and early September were followed by cooler weather. In mid-September, a few days of scattered showers allowed the fruit to hang and develop more flavor, and cooler temperatures prevented disease pressure from mounting. Fruit was harvested after the soil dried with moderately high acidities and moderately low sugars. There was uneven physiological ripeness and flavors, due to surprisingly high yields. Ambient yeast fermentations were slow, and malolactic engaged early in nearly every lot. A few really challenging fermentations required intervention on my part, which allowed me to evolve as a winemaker and business owner. The wines are bright, delicate and lovely, and as they age, I love them more and more.
Picking Dates:
Durant Vineyard - 9/15/17
Seven Springs Vineyard - 9/28/17
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/29/17 and 10/5/17
Loubejac Vineyard - 9/29/17
The Eyrie Vineyards -10/2/17
AlexEli Vineyard - 10/3/17
Released Spring 2019
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Eight bottlings were created from the 2017 vintage: Black Label, Pink Label, White Label, Willamette Valley, Loubejac Vineyard, Seven Springs Vineyard, Eyrie Vineyard, and Sandi. The 2017 vintage was hot but higher than average yields tempered ripeness. The 2017’s are now in their prime drinking window. Black Label is mineral, steely and delicate. Drink now. Pink Label is light with dainty fruit and florals. Drink now. White Label is powerful, textural and is generous already, but will continue to drink well through 2025. Willamette Valley is coiled, pure and chalky - it is wonderful now, though it will continue to improve through 2025. Loubejac Vineyard surprises me every time I open it; while it is chalky, mineral and vibrant, there is a subtle plushness on the palate. Drink anytime through 2025. Seven Springs Vineyard’s chalky and coiled texture has softened and the minerals have become creamy. Drink anytime through 2025. Eyrie Vineyard’s musky intensity is beginning to show depth which youth was hiding. Drink anytime through 2027 or 2028. Sandi is a kernel of power, regality and finesse. If you open now, decanting will help show its best.
Drink Black Label, Pink Label and White Label now. Willamette Valley, Loubejac and Seven Springs are likely reaching full maturity, drink in 2025. Eyrie and Sandi will continue to improve in your cellar but are beginning to drink well.
2016
In a word, phenomenal. A typical spring in 2016 became warmer earlier than both 2015 and 2014, a trend that continued into June. Bud break and flowering occurred earlier than normal, both under ideal conditions. Fruit set was just below average. Weather in July and August become more moderate, cooling off slightly, and a couple light rain events were welcomed by the vines. Wonderful weather continued in September, and fruit was picked in perfect conditions with ideal physiological maturity, high acidity with potential alcohol right at 13%. Ambient yeast fermentations were healthy and fast, everything was dry by December just as malolactic engaged. These wines are lovely, and will continue to evolve in the cellar.
Picking Dates:
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/10/16
Loubejac Vineyard - 9/16/16
The Eyrie Vineyards - 9/20/16
Released Spring 2018
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Four bottlings were created from the 2016 vintage: Loubejac Vineyard, Yamhill Vineyard, Eyrie Vineyard and Sandi. The 2016 vintage will perhaps reach peak development in bottle over the next few years. Loubejac Vineyard is bright, tense and powdery. Drink now through 2027. Yamhill Vineyard is chalky, coiled and pure, yet is quite welcoming. Drink now through 2027. Eyrie Vineyard is quite reductive, with savory flintiness, lovely texture and vibrancy. It is beautiful now with a decant, but will continue to improve in the cellar for many years. A blend of all three lots framed by more new oak, Sandi is elegant, dense and structured. Drink anytime through 2028.
Enjoy Loubejac, Yamhill and Sandi anytime. Deacant or hold Eyrie. Be as patient as possible with the 2016’s, I am confident these wines will continue to improve for many years.
2015
Two in a row. An encore to 2014, spring weather created perfect conditions for another early bud break in 2015, which was followed by even, clement weather through flowering. Heat spiked beginning in June, and 2015 began notching higher than average day and nighttime high temperatures, pushing ripeness for a larger than average crop, with large berries and clusters. Scattered showers and a cooler late August transitioned into a wonderful early September, with cool, dry conditions allowing harvest at ease with high physiological and sugar ripeness with moderate acidity. Fermentations were slowed by concurrent malolactic and completed late. Five of six barrels were bottled. One barrel of 2015 finished the second spring and became part of the base of the solera.
Picking Date:
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/15/15
Released Spring 2017
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
Three bottlings were created from five barrels, based mostly on the amount of new wood. The 2015 vintage was generously fruited with good energy upon release, and has fully matured in bottle. The briny minerals and crispness of Willamette Valley (0% new wood) has softened a bit. The firmness and vibrancy of Yamhill Vineyard (25% new wood) became more generous and smooth. Always the most textural, Sandi’s (50% new wood) decadence has become honeyed, spiced and creamy.
The 2015 wines are mature and should be enjoyed.
2014
Bud break took place a few weeks earlier than average, and beautiful weather continued throughout flowering, setting healthy and bountiful clusters of big berries. Dry, hot weather throughout the growing season allowed for a higher than average crop to finish ripening without any issue during a typically cool September with a couple light rain events that had no ill effect on the health of the fruit. In general, physiological and sugar ripeness was high with moderate acidity. Fermentation was even and completed in the spring, just as malolactic was engaged.
Picking Date:
Yamhill Vineyard - 9/27/14
Released Spring 2016
DRINKING WINDOW; updated November 2024
The sole wine produced in 2014, Yamhill Vineyard, is likely or soon at peak development in bottle, but will continue to drink well for another 2-4 years, as it evolves into full maturity. As of September, 2022, the wine is lively, fresh and vibrant with good intensity of aromatics, while a softness and subtle nutty character of flavors hints towards the freshness the wine aging consistently and slowly.
Drink anytime.