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/April/May that the Valley has seen through 128 years of record keeping! Bloom, or flowering, 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. July and August turned out to be exceedingly hot and dry, thankfully September started off mild with a couple of rain events that allowed us to fully ripen the grapes. The hot and dry summer made for fruit that was extremely clean, making for excellent fermentations. All in all, mother nature gave us something to be grateful for on our 50th anniversary.

WINEMAKING
The fruit for this wine was hand harvested, sorted to remove flawed fruit, and then put into tank whole cluster. Carbonic maceration was used to ferment the wine while maintaining the bright fruit characteristics of Gamay. The fermentation tank was sealed dry ice to create a carbon dioxide rich environment and thus start the fermentation process inside the individual berries (Once the alcohol reaches 2%, the berries burst, releasing their juice naturally, and a normal yeast fermentation will then finish the job). After fermentation, the wine was aged in 50% neutral oak for 6 months.

WINE PROFILE
Our 2021 Gamay bursts with youthful, bright red with fruit-forward notes of fresh strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and a bubblegum finish.

PAIRINGS
Pair our 2021 Willamette Valley Gamay with Roasted chicken with herbs, roasted black cod, and assorted cheeses: chevre, brie, comte.

SCORES
2021 - 90 Wine Enthusiast