Bergstrom Sigrid Chardonnay 2018
Winemaker Notes
Green-white-gold in color, the 2018 Sigrid Chardonnay has an elegantly floral, aromatic perfume of tropical blossoms, honeysuckle, herbal tea infusion, Meyer lemon, and a distinctly Oregonian note of hazelnuts. This wine has wonderful viscosity with citrus (lemon, grapefruit, mandarin, orange), white tea, and mint flavors, with good concentration and sweetness. Very suave, silky, and weightless on the palate, this young vintage of Sigrid is tightly wound and focused, but with a solid core of sweet fruit, and is showing great potential much like a poised acacia flower bud ready to bloom.
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThis carries all the complexity and layering so easily, delivering an impressively resolved and layered chardonnay with drive and body. Aromas of ripe peach, lemon and grapefruit sit within notes of wet stone and flint. The palate has such clarity and purity with pleasantly fresh, tart nectarine, as well as lemon and grapefruit. Their finest Sigrid to date. Drink or hold.
Vibrant and steely, with bright acidity, this lovely white offers orange blossom, lemon zest and crisp mineral flavors that speed toward the rich, snappy finish. Drink now through 2022.
The 2018 Chardonnay Sigrid offers bright citrus and orchard fruits on the nose with a minerally undercurrent. The light-bodied palate is fresh, gently rounded and pure with savory tones and a long, uplifted finish.
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.
One of Pinot Noir's most successful New World outposts, the Willamette Valley is the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines.
Mountain ranges bordering three sides of the valley, particularly the Chehalem Mountains, provide the option for higher-elevation vineyard sites.
The valley's three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals. In the most southern stretch of the Willamette, the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA soils are mixed, shallow and well-drained. The Hills' close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor (which became its own appellation as of 2019) also creates grapes with great concentration and firm acidity, leading to wines that perfectly express both power and grace.
Though Pinot noir enjoys the limelight here, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay also thrive in the Willamette. Increasing curiosity has risen recently in the potential of others like Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc and Gamay.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.