VINTAGE HIGHLIGHTS
2021 was the 2nd warmest growing season we have ever seen since 2015. We also got to add a new term to the dictionary: "Heat Dome". Three straight days of triple digit temperatures in late June breaking heat records for the Willamette Valley! Bud break started like usual in the middle of April. We had the driest March through May that the Willamette Valley has seen through 128 years of record keeping! Bloom also appeared on time in early/mid June. While late June brought the “Heat Dome”, our grapes made it through thanks to bloom being finished at all our sites and there still being soil moisture, so they grew like crazy over those three days of hellish temperatures. While July and August turned out to be exceedingly hot and dry, September arrived with little rain which allowed the grapes to fully ripen. The hot and dry summer made for fruit that was extremely clean, resulting in excellent fermentations. All in all, mother nature gave us something to be grateful for on our 50th anniversary.

WINEMAKING
Our Bluebird Cuvée Brut Sparkling is a vibrant example of a wine made in the traditional method. The fruit is hand harvested and sent to the press whole cluster. We lightly press the fruit, taking only the cuvée cut and diverting the end cuts to another tank. We inoculate with a strong sparkling focused commercial yeast and ferment the base in all stainless steel tanks, additionally aging the wine in more stainless steel tanks for 10 months before bottling and being put in to tirage. We are looking to create a sparkling wine with bright acidity and citrus zest characters along with other intense floral and tropical fruit characteristics. It is kept in tirage for only 12 months as the shorter tirage time is essential to gently build the mouthfeel by the secondary fermentation that occurs in the bottle. We balance the bright acidity of sparkling with a brut level dosage of 5g/L.

WINE PROFILE
Looking for breakfast in a glass, look no further! From nose to taste, there are notes of green apple, peaches, nectarines, and pears. Dry, crisp, and lovely acidity. Our Bluebird is perfect to pair with any meal of the day or simply on its own.

PAIRINGS
This wine pairs beautifully with blueberry or banana pancakes, Puget Sound oysters, and smoked salmon with or without the bagel.

SCORES
90 points - James Suckling (2021 vintage)
90 points - Jeb Dunnuck (2021 vintage)
91 points & Editor's Choice - Wine Enthusiast (2019 vintage)
90 points - James Suckling (2019 vintage)