Crowley Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2020
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Lemon-lime aromatics burst from the glass, laced with a touch of floral wood. Quenching salinity on the palate stretches long, eventually giving way to chalk and balanced acidity.
Crowley Wines was founded in 2005 with a focus on transparent, terroir-driven winemaking. Starting at the source, they favor older clones of Chardonnay and the classic Wadenswil and Pommard Pinot noir clones due to their late ripening nature and acid retention.
Crowley works with family owned vineyards and prefer cooler, high elevation sites. Their friends and growers are committed to non-irrigated and low impact farming. They are members of the Deep Roots Coalition and their primary vineyard sources are LIVE certified or certified organic. In the winery their highest priority is to create the most direct evidence of both vintage and place while making elegant and exciting wines. This means (wine geek alert!) minimal acid additions, no extraction enzyme, employing native yeasts, extended aging in mostly neutral oak and minimal fining or filtration. Crowley values purity of expression over stylized wines and hold essential the belief that they cannot improve on nature.
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.
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.