Our first vines were planted in 2007 with our first grape harvest in 2009. While Sanjeev and I originally set out to grow and sell grapes, our 2010 barrel tasting made such an impression that we just had to make wine ourselves.
Each year since has presented a unique challenge. One year, we had heavy hail during bud break. In another, the birds were so bad at harvest time that it looked like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. One September, yellow jackets hung heavy in the air, so full of grape sugars that they could barely fly. Our wasp traps filled to the top and had to be replaced multiple times.
During the 2020 harvest season, smoke blanketed the Willamette Valley. Some wineries chose not the make wine, thinking that the risk of smoke taint was too high. A chorus of voices were saying that the 2020 vintage was lost.
We made wine and are thrilled with the results. Our chardonnay was picked before the smoke drifted into the vineyard and it’s brimming with the flavors of bosc pear, candied ginger, white peach, melon, and Meyer lemon. The pinot noir was exposed for a short time, but apparently not intensely or long enough to damage the flavors. Tony Rynders delicately, almost tenderly, processed the grapes into luscious wines with the flavors of blackberry, black currant, ripe cherry, and chocolate.
A vineyard is judged by its age. The older the vine, the deeper the root, the more expressive the terroir. As with the vines, with each year the winemaker, the owners and the vineyard workers grow deeper with experience, producing fuller and richer wines.
So this year, in recognition of that decade-past barrel tasting, we are celebrating by releasing 2020 Decade, a limited-edition label. We hope you all get the chance to enjoy this beautiful wine, a tribute to ten years of experience and success.
