Winemaker Notes
A deep and vibrantly violet-purple covered wine that, right from the start, offers up classic Syrah aromas that are explosively ethereal and effusive: violet flowers, saline whole cluster spice, savory and sweet garden herbs, ginger, black pepper, ripe raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. On the palate, it is vibrant and juicy but also ripe and medium-bodied with dark red fruits and a lovely meaty mushroom, bouillon, and savory umami expression that makes this a beauty right now and promises excellent aging capabilities thanks to a silky tannic structure.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2019 Syrah Oregon Gargantua is a beast: peppery, floral, meaty, nearly bloody, packed full of crushed olive, blackberries, smoke and ashen stone notes lifted by hints of sweet sage. It floods the palate with ripe black fruits and savory herbal tones, as vibrant acidity adds balance and salty minerals saturate, all supported by medium-weight textures. The mouth is left watering for more as fine tannins frame the experience and hints of salted licorice slowly fade. This smoky and savory Syrah would be hard to place in a blind tasting, but Joh Bergstrom said it quite eloquently, "It's Oregon."
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Wine Spectator
Plump and polished, showing multilayered raspberry and guava flavors laced with smoked meat and cracked pepper notes as this builds richness and tension toward refined tannins.
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Wine & Spirits
The fruit for this wine is drawn from multiple Oregon sites, the contribution form the Rocks most pronounced, pointing up the scents of olive and molasses, fig jam and smoke. The age on the wine has accorded it a dark savor and smooth texture, velvety soft, with supple tannins and a quiet intensity.
Bergstrom Wines is a family-owned and operated artisan producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which was started in 1999 by Dr. John and Karen Bergstrom, with the help of their son Josh Bergstrom and his wife Caroline. Josh is general manager, vineyard manager and winemaker and pulls his expertise from his education in Burgundy, France and his 14 years experience making wines in Oregon's Northern Willamette Valley. Bergstrom focuses on hand-crafting small lots of wines from their fice estate vineyards carefully chosen from fice of Oregon's six wine-growing appellations. All estate acreage is farmed biodynamically and all wines express the wonderful diversity of Oregon's many great terroirs.
Bergström Wines consists of five estate vineyards totaling 84 acres that span across four of the Willamette Valley’s best appellations: The Bergström Vineyard, Silice Vineyard, Winery Block, Gregory Ranch and Le Pré du Col. Each estate vineyard is farmed without the use of harsh chemicals, systemic or fertilizers, and the winery produces approximately 10,000 cases of ultra-premium and extremely sought-after wine each year, including two Chardonnays and nine different Pinot Noirs.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Home to some of America’s most celebrated Pinot Noir, Oregon maintains a tight focus on small production, high quality wine even while the state’s industry enjoys steady growth. As a world-renowned wine region, Oregon has more than 700 wineries and is home to well over 70 grape varieties. With a mostly Mediterranean climate, its cooler and wetter regions lie in the west, close to the Pacific Coast.
By far the most reputed Oregon wine region is the Willamette Valley, which is further subdivided into six smaller appellations: Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge and Yamhill-Carlton.
The Oregon wine region's most obvious success story is with Pinot Noir, which here takes on a personality that could be described in general terms as somewhere in between the wines of California and Burgundy—and is often more affordable than either one. The best Willamette Pinot noir has a rare combination of red and black fruit, elegant balance, high acidity and rustic earth. While completely enjoyable in their youth, some of the better, single vineyard or appellation-specific Pinot noirs can often benefit from some cellar time.
Other AVAs in Oregon’s west worth noting include Umpqua Valley and Rogue Valley.
In the east are Snake River Valley, which overlaps into Idaho, and Columbia Valley, which Oregon shares with Washington. Summers are hot and dry in these regions but winters are cold and rainy.
Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot blanc also grow successfully in Oregon.