Winemaker Notes
The 2024 Riesling was made from grapes sourced from Meyer Vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA. To help maximize aromatic intensity and complexity, the wine was fermented in both neutral French oak and stainless steel barrels. The finished wine was aged on the lees for six months with occasional stirring. The results are honeyed pineapple, fresh apricot and lemon curd fruit framed by quince flower and graphite aromatics. Although fermented to near dryness, the palate is rich, juicy, long and mineral with excellent natural acidity.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.