2008 Riesling
Vintage
There is a quiet kind of excitement in the Willamette Valley after harvest 2008. Phrases and clichés keep rolling on such as classic cool climate, vintage conditions that are only dreamt of, potential to show the best of what Oregon has to offer. Add to this, repeated references to perhaps one of Oregon’s best vintages, 1999 and understandably many in the valley are smiling. Oregon’s 2008 growing season started late, with bud break on average ten days to two weeks behind schedule and followed with a relatively cool growing season. Thoughts of the recent wet and cool harvest of 2007 had many aggressively thin vineyards to concentrate fruit and speed up ripening and ward off disease pressure. Yet as in 1999, a beautiful Oregon autumn saved the day! Fall was spectacular with sunny days and cold nights laying the foundation to produce extraordinary wines.
Vineyard
Our Riesling Estate is made from hand-picked fruit from three of our estate vineyards: Elk Cove Estate, Five Mountain and Windhill. Our Riesling vines are some of the oldest in Oregon, with our Estate and Windhill vines dating from 1975. These older vines give us fruit with a delightful complexity not often seen in domestic Rieslings.
Winemaking
We have the perfect climate for this delicate cool weather white wine – there’s enough sunlight and warmth for ripening, but our cool evenings help us retain the delicate varietal character. We whole-cluster press our Riesling grapes, then ferment the juice at very cool temperatures in small stainless steel tanks, producing an aromatic, crisp Riesling with a beautiful acid profile.
Viticultural & Enological Data
- Vine Age 33 years
- Yield 3 tons/acre
- Harvest Sugars 22.9 Brix
- pH 3.04
- Vatting Whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks.
- Cases Produced 309
