VINTAGE HIGHLIGHTS
What started as a dry winter turned into a deluge of rain in the springtime. We had the wettest and coldest April/May/June in recorded (130 years) history. Freezing temperatures on the morning of April 14th and 15th knocked back the fragile new growth, in fact, until crop estimates were done in late August, we thought our crop yields would be down across the board by 50-60%. The lesson learned is don’t second guess a grapevine. In over 51 years of growing grapes here in the Dundee Hills we have never seen a freezing event during the growing season, so we had no idea what was going to happen. The primary buds froze and died, but the secondary buds came on, produced fewer but larger clusters, and the vines made a miraculous comeback. The coldest and wettest spring turned into the 2nd warmest and driest summer on record, and then we got to October. Everything depended on good ripening conditions (dry and warm) in the month of October since bloom was much later. Fortunately we got the warmest October in Oregon history, we were able to let the grapes hang, and the rains stayed put until all our Estate fruit was in on Thursday, October 27th. The fruit got nice and ripe, and we are thrilled with the wine produced from this vintage!

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 carbondioxide 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 2022 Gamay bursts with youthful bright red fruit-forward notes of cherry and raspberry.  On the finish you will find a hint of spice.

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