VIVA LE BENCH!!! You’re doing the good work Kenny!
Wahoo! @colinkapps How was your trip back to Boston? Did you end up going to Treehouse Brewing?
Literally unloading the sparkling equipment on BD15 to get these bottles disgorged by the end of February
1 Like
Some notes on the 2020 Chardonnay vintage:
In 2020, we sought out some lesser-known areas high up in the alpine forest of the Cascade foothills in and around Hood River, OR and White Salmon, WA.
In the vineyard, budbreak was consistent and smooth. As flowering approached, the vines were pressured by the late spring rains that created an uneven fruit set. Flowers that otherwise would’ve become grapes were knocked off by the hard rain, and as a result, crop levels were cut in half. That wasn’t bad because it created a lot of millerandage (hens and chicks), that is a mixture of big berries and small berries in the same cluster. Throughout the rest of 2020, the summer was dry with no disease pressure in the Columbia Gorge. The resulting clusters were small and concentrated.
At harvest, the clusters were freckled, golden, and juicy. The seeds were brown and crunchy. These clusters were concentrated, at full phenolic ripeness at the high elevation, and brooding with potential. Chardonnay is our love and we hope it shows.
Variety : Dijon 95 (25%) and Old Wente (75%)
Vineyards : Flume Vineyard (6 year old Dijon 95 vines) and Dampier Vineyard (30-35 year old Wente vines)
Vinification : Harvest was manual, with rigorous field sorting. 100% whole cluster pressed. Native fermentation in barrel in a cold cellar (60 degrees Fahrenheit). Primary fermentation completed in the following spring with full malolactic conversion.
Elevage : In neutral French oak barrels for 12 months. The entire cuvée was blended in stainless steel tanks to age on the fine lees for 6 months prior to bottling. Bottled in spring 2022.
Had enough yield from Pearlstad this year to do a still Chard. It’ll make its debut again in 2024.
Hot tip about our shipping deals - they work across offers. Any shipment up to 4 bottles will be $15 flat shipping (e.g. stack a 2A and 2B), 6 bottles $20 flat shipping, and 12 bottles free shipping. Mix and match away!
1 Like
On the 2020 Columbia Gorge Chardonnay in our YOLO for Yellow packs: “Sourced from a pair of Columbia Gorge vineyards, this shows the kind of detail and lightly throttled wildness that comes from judicious handling of native yeasts and hands-off winemaking. “Rigorous field sorting” as the winery notes has also contributed to the finesse and depth of the final product. A mix of wildflower aromatics, citrus rind, sappy acids and penetrating flavors of Meyer lemon, this was aged for a full year in neutral oak and finished in stainless. This is one of a new generation of Oregon Chardonnays that deserve close attention and display previously unsuspected strengths of the grape. 84 cases; 12.8%; $32 (Columbia Gorge)” - Paul Gregutt
YES! just tasted our BdN base wine from Sojeau this year 
very excited about where it is at and where it is headed.
I know…love having you also make bubs on the Bench!
1 Like
You know it! And more is coming. Our Sojeau BDN is some of the best in the cellar right now. Reminds me of L’Ormes in the Vallee de la Marne.
Thank you to everyone for your kind words and purchases! What a success! Announcing the winner of our raffle… @Jorge_Henriquez!! 
We will ship your magnum of our 2020 Extra Brut Columbia Gorge Sparkling Wine concurrent with our official sparkler release later this year.
Wow! Thank you @Kenny_McMahon1 All I’ve ever won before is the ridicule and scorn from @ToddFrench & @K_John_Joseph
I’m glad I was called out here, as I’m the one who told Jorge to buy Arabilis on BerserkerDay, yet somehow, with a free magnum, I’m publicly rebuked for apparent ‘ridicule and scorn’
I feel left out.
Signed,
Your Sturmennotenwaffer
@Jorge_Henriquez - we are so excited you won it!! We are preparing the dosage trials on Sunday and we have them riddling now.
@ToddFrench, ridicule and scorn?! Never. Thank you for spreading the good word about Arabilis. Berserker Day was awesome and on the same day we received our automatic sparkling line for our cuverie. So busy.
@Patrick_Taylor, welcome! Great to see you on here again. Future raffles to come and more sparkling to come! I just hosted the entire Johan team for a base wine tasting and tasting through the 2021 wines in tirage (one of which is aging under cork). Yep, we’re the first to do it in the US. And it’s a banger.
Keep me posted on how it goes with the cork tirage! Agrafé?
@ShelbyPerkins, yep. The risk is worth the reward. Already seeing and tasting differences and you see it in the glass. More to come. Being the first in the country to forge a new path.
Really? Not Roederer, Mumm, Scharfenberger, etc?
Do the Napa gals/guys do it? If so, then scratch my early statement 
Amorim/Ollier told me I’m the first in the US to tirage under cork. 