Draper Selection does as well. Though I absolutely believe that multi-clonal plantings a la Clos Electrique, Royer Vineyard, Ex-Novo, and Ex-Omni are the future of Oregon Chardonnay.
We have 4 clones in the first acre of Chardonnay at Whistling Ridge, and added the full selection of clones from Clos Electrique in 2019, all of which are California clones that ripen just fine in the current climate.
Back in the early 80s, the only person who consistently making very good chardonnay was David Lett. Bill Fuller at Tualatin Vineyards seemed to be able to do it about half the time (1981, 1983, 1985, and 1988 were all fabulous). Everything else was pretty wretched. Jim is right about the 108 clone. People didn’t know how to farm it. Eyrie had primarily Draper selection clones (clones that Lett selected from Draper Ranch). Tualatin Vineyards had the Draper selection as well. Other early producers had all sorts of problems. Too much oak, harvested too late, harvested too early, bad fermentations, etc.
After several years of missteps, Cameron started making some really good Chardonnays in the mid-90s Domaine Drouhin, Evesham Wood, St Innocent, and Domaine Serene also did a good to very good job. Bill Fuller left Tualatin sometime in the 90s, and their chardonnays went to hell. Back in the 90s and early 2000s, it was easy to buy Oregon chardonnay. You just needed to buy Eyrie, Cameron, DDO, and if you have really deep pockets, Domaine Serene. Frankly I could buy Ramonet or Douhin Clos des Mouches Blanc for the same price as Serene, so why?
Even though I love good chardonnay, I was kind of relieved when everyone in Oregon hitched their wagons to Pinot Gris. It seemed like it was easier to make something sellable, and I could just ignore them and go back to buying White Burgundy.
It wasn’t until somewhere between 2006 and 2010 that chardonnay started to get interesting. By then people were at least trying. I think it kind of stung that Dominique Lafon came out here and started making killer chardonnay right away. 2011 was a critical year as well. The Oregon harvest was late and the Burgundy harvest was early, so a number of winemakers spent several weeks in Burgundy watching how they handled chardonnay before coming home to apply those lessons.
When will your Clos Electrique clippings be ready for production?
The other night, I had the opportunity to tasted a 1993 Eyrie Reserve Chardonnay that was lovely and very much alive with notes of lemon curd, a hint of toasted almonds, medium acidity, and great texture on the palate that reminded me of some of the Goodfellow chardonnay’s I’ve tasted. I kept returning for another taste throughout the evening. Who says Oregon Chardonnays can’t age gracefully?
When we do not get rain at bloom or a freeze in April…
These were field grafted, and produced wine in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The 2020 is part of the WV Chardonnay bottling. The 2021 produced about 800 lbs and was pressed with the North Block Chardonnay as a single block. The 2022 produced a whopping 400 liters. Part of the Blanc de Blanc program.
Oh boy. Nature is not your friend. The 2020 WV is generating a lot of enthusiasm. Do you think those vines made a noticeable impact?
Rick, doesn’t Abbey Ridge pre-date Clos Electrique? Do you know what is planted up there?
Marcus,
Thank you for the kind words!
Craig
ITB
X Novo/X Omni
Whole heartedly different. Our Chardonnay is adjacent to Whistling Ridge Vineyard (for those that don’t know, the whole NW line of our property abuts Beaux Freres and the “back” North/East line runs along the WR property line). It’s the coldest part of the property as it sinks to the NE directly into a stand of trees on two sides that block the morning sun. It was picked at very high acid levels (and probably always will be) in 2021 and is much racier and more powerful and focused than the Durant. I think it’s easily the best Chardonnay I have made and I invested over $100,000 in 2 new presses to, in part, make it even better going forward.
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.