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 September 13th, nearly a month earlier than last year. 60% of the fruit received was immediately loaded into the press as a whole cluster, and the other 40% was de-stemmed into bins and soaked on the skins for 36 hours prior to being pressed. For fermentation 60% of the juice went into stainless steel and 40% went in to our concrete egg. We used a Sauvignon Blanc focused yeast and the long cool fermentation lasted about 20 days. After fermentation the wine was blended together into a stainless steel tank and aged for 4months before being bottled young and fresh. Our goal in this wine is to have just a touch of the grassy character associated with Sauvignon Blanc but elevate the fruit characteristics that give the wine weight and depth.

WINE PROFILE
The 2021 Croft Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc plays on the nose with notes of gooseberry, mangosteen and grapefruit, complemented by limestone and tomato vine. On the palate, the gooseberry, grapefruit and limestone carry through, but are met with lychee and fresh white peach.

PAIRINGS
Our Sauvignon Blanc pairs beautifully with fresh goat cheese, classic green curries, and bright chimichurri chicken dishes.

THE STORY
In 2021 we had the privilege to work with Croft Vineyards again, a second generation family owned vineyard, located in the southwest corner of Salem.They are one of the few sites in the Willamette Valley growing beautiful Sauvignon Blanc.