Sounds great. I’m in line and ready.
@Jim_Anderson I meant to ask you if you would share your production methods for the Estate. Steel, concrete, wood? Same as Durant or different? I’ve enjoyed the Durant since the 2016 and recall you using concrete for some part.
I believe Abbey Ridge was planted in the late 70s and Clos Electrique was planted in the mid 80s. I heard that Abbey Ridge had both the 108 clone and Draper selection. I also heard that Eyrie got the fruit from Abbey Ridge before Cameron, and when John got the fruit, David Lett wasn’t very happy.
I’m checking with John, but he’s kind of busy with his son’s wedding…
I got an answer from the assistant winemaker, Tom Sivilli. Abbey Ridge was first planted with Chardonnay in 1975. Mostly 108 with six rows of Draper. More 108 (the grapes that go in the Dundee Hills Chardonnay) was planted in 83-84. There is also some Mt Eden clone that was planted later.
Clos Electrique was originally planted in 1987.
Abbey Ridge is 108 & Draper, the old vine block at Oracle was supposedly Draper.
I’m sure the fruit from the Clos Electrique cuttings was noticeable, but it’s not a dominant percentage.
Of the Clos Electrique cutting we grafted, the Draper is hands down the quickest to rebound and be ready to bear fruit.
Very well deserved!
Very cool thread— learning a lot. I’m a day late answering the questions about how Chard can become a butter bomb due to diacetyl during MLF from Rick and. @Patrick_Taylor . (I just learned third hand that my Oregon distributor is closing down— they haven’t been returning calls, texts, emails— they owe me $10K, and the loss of $3K/mo has me scrambling! Lined up a couple of interviews/tastings for next week… so Friday was crazy town). Okay back to the topic: a couple of online reviews of the literature, below. To be more precise than my previous post, and to answer Rick’s question, diacetyl produced during AF in wine is reduced into other compounds so is rarely an issue. During MLF, timing and bacteria strains have a big impact and vary widely in diacetyl production. If you have a native ML bacteria strain that works well, that’s great but you will not know until after the fact…
OSU Paper on MLF
Scott Labs MLF Review
Thanks for the info David and sorry to hear about the distributor issue. Hope it all pans out well!
Sorry to hear that David, I have a Danish importer doing the same - not answering emails and not paying the $8K.
Thanks. I’ll PM you the details and lessons learned. Don’t want to hijack this Chardonnay thread 
Could be a whole thread on this. In the 20+ years we have been operating we’ve lost about $50,000 in distributors going south on us. It never goes or ends well. One guy who sunk us for over $20,000 still occasionally sends me a text like we’re buddies.
I remember visiting several French wineries 2009-2012 who had soured on American distributors that didn’t pay because of the financial crisis.
Guess it doesn’t matter where, it sucks to put your heart soul, money, and time into something, and not get compensated. And it makes you wonder if they knew when they ordered that payment was doubtful.
Thanks for digging for this info Rick. On the 108, I remember Dai saying that it just didn’t ripen at Temperance Hill or their home estate Chard in Wren in the 90s, 2000s (and that was a widespread problem). I believe he grafted over to Dijon clones (and my notes are fuzzy here on which ones). @Marcus_Goodfellow might know more.
David,
I would never make a clonal decision on Temperance Hill and Wren.
Temperance Hill is remarkably powerful, but a very cool site. The only thing we pick close to it are Bednarik and when we made Syrah from Deux Vert(which was the last pick). Wren is one of the absolute coolest sites in the Valley.
In our grafted block, the clones are Dijon. But we pick it well before Mark Vlossek picks his. Dai is an amazing farmer but his view of Chardonnay is not picking at 20 Brix for still wine. He’s truly an institution in Oregon viticulture though, and his feelings about 108 at THV and Wren are probably correct, but they don’t really apply to a large percentage of other Willamette Valley sites.
Abbey Ridge, Clos Electrique, Maresh, Four Winds, and Eyrie all make lovely wines from Wente or with Wente as part of the mix. It’s also been a part of the mix in the Chardonnay at Whistling Ridge, and all of the Clos Electrique cuttings we grafted are old clones (non-Dijon), including Wente and Draper. I like Dijon clones, and do not believe one or the other is superior, but there’s a lot of proof in the Willamette Valley’s being able to ripen Wente.
I think Bethel Hights ‘High Wire’ is Wente as well.
Bought a mixed case from him last year.
I think one thing to keep in mind is that when everyone decided that the Wente clone was bad, the viticultural knowledge was very rudimentary compared to today. In the 80s, very few people did any kind of green harvest - the best vintages were when Mother Nature did it for everyone (the case in both 1983 and 1985). Discussions with Ken Pahlow and Marcus impress on me how much growers are still learning about how to grow the grapes that will make the best possible wine.
The other thing to consider is that it is warmer now than it was 40 years ago. Forty years ago, the best chardonnays came from warmer and more protected sites in the valley. A lot of places where chardonnay (and Pinot) now grows just fine were thought to be only suitable for sparkling wine thirty years ago.
Hey Ken, I was part of the barrel tasting with the Lumos crew a few years ago. You mentioned you were trialing very low yields (forgetting which vineyard(s). How did that experiment go? What are you seeing as lessons learned and yields that work for your sites and style?
Good to know— yes, those are very cool sites to be sure.
Oregon needs more sparkling wine. After offering a real alternative to red and white Burgundies, becoming the New World answer to Champagne could and should be next.
I’m just enjoying a bottle of 2016 Haden Fig Juliette. Named after the owner’s daughter, this is the top Chardonnay at the winery. I believe the grapes come from Mahonia vineyard. Seriously good, high quality stuff here. A bit reductive style, authoritative acidity, excellent purity of fruit, no obvious “winemaker signature,” this probably has as upside to at least it’s tenth birthday. Strongly recommended. As I mentioned before, Haden Fig and Evesham Wood sister wineries are making some of my favorite OR Chard.
I agree Chris. There’s a new wave of young méthode champenoise producers out there such as Dave Cho (Cho Wines) and Kenny McMahon (Arabilis Wines). Would like @Kenny_McMahon1 to weigh in here on his take of the best producers. (Kenny literally did his PhD on Méthode Champegnoise! And travels to Champagne, etc. His first bottling should be available soon-ish??)