2022 Chehalem Mountains Chardonnay

$45.00

Electricity
Shapes a crystalline citrus current 
Pour a glass of lightning

Our Chehalem Mountains Chardonnay comes from the eponymous Chehalem Mountain Vineyard located on a lovely little hillock between the southern knuckle of the Chehalem Mountains proper and its nested AVA Ribbon Ridge.  Here soil is marine sedimentary on a south-facing slope at 450 feet.  Clonal selection is old Wente and 76, both tried and true expressions of Oregon Chardonnay.  The site’s provenance is its adjacency to the spot where Dick Erath planted the first Chardonnay in the region in 1974.

The grapes were hand harvested on October 3rd, 2022, gently whole bunch pressed, settled and racked to barrels for fermentation and aging.  The wine was encouraged through malolactic fermentation and kept on lees until bottling in December 2023.

Tasting Notes:
Crystalline and balanced on a fulcrum of flavor this Chardonnay is citrusy lemon, tangerine and pear, melon and a sigh of mace.  White flowers, chamomile, waxy macadamia and brioche bun invite expanse and succulence, but the magic here is energy.  A focused crystalline current, nervy and electric, running a tight long line through the center of things echoing brightness and illumination.