“The 2022 Riesling Estate has scents of yellow peach, pineapple, honey, ginger and bread dough. The light-bodied palate features full, ripe, tropical flavors and spicy accents. Its racy acidity is balanced by nine grams of residual sugar, and it has a long, flavorful finish.”
– Robert Parker Wine Advocate (July 2024)
In VINTAGE 2022 Mother Nature kept us on our toes with unusual weather at each end of the growing season. A wet, cold spring led into a long, temperate summer followed by a very sunny fall that brought us much-needed ripening.
What a surprise to have snowfall on April 11th, our region’s latest significant snow since 1942! Most of our vines had not yet leafed out and their tight woolly buds were well-protected. However, frost damage did mean a smaller crop at our Clay Court Vineyard. Other vineyard sites set a healthy crop, which we thinned heavily to increase intensity and encourage ripening. August and September were unseasonably warm, but the nights remained cool, helping us retain varietal character. Worries of late-season botrytis (rot) meant extra passes of hand-work in the vineyard pulling leaves to improve sunlight penetration and airflow. Thankfully, October welcomed a long string of sunny days and just exactly the hang-time and ripening we needed to bring grape sugar (brix) to ideal levels.
Harvest began in late September, with most fruit harvested during two very intense mid-October weeks. Many of our blocks achieved peak ripeness at the same time, so we are very thankful for our incredible crew for all of the early morning picking sessions in the vineyard and long days in the cellar. Expect complex, fruit-forward wines from this vintage.
Our Riesling Estate is made from hand-picked fruit from three of our estate vineyards: our Winery 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.
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.
Join our mailing list for the latest updates & special offers from Elk Cove. We send around 1-2 emails/week.
You may unsubscribe at any time.
