Wine Resources
A study in Vintage variations
2013
Our inaugural vintage showcases two wines made with sourced fruit from vineyards, such as Gran Moraine and La Colina. The Petite Incline is a more approachable wine, made to enjoy in its youth, while the Incline is a barrel selection made with great aging potential. The 2013 vintage was a polarizing vintage with its share of adversity. The vintage began very warm through the spring and transitioned in July to cooler weather. By the end of July through October, humidity and torrential rains slowed ripening and brought botrytis. With extensive sorting in both the vineyard and the winery, we ended up discarding up to 45% of total yields to reach our quality goals.
2014
In 2014 the wines that came from great terroirs made themselves. Our exploration of sourced fruit from spectacular sites resumes in a vintage of opulence, depth, and concentrated purity. The season was fast-paced, with 20% higher growing degree days. The Petite Incline continues to be a bright wine made predominantly from press-fraction juice, while the Incline is a barrel selection showcasing purity and made with aging potential in mind.
2015
This vintage marks the inaugural fruit from our Dundee Hills estate; the Iron Filbert Vineyard. 2015 in the Willamette Valley was a vintage of bountiful yields and opulence resultant of the record warmth thus far. The combination of high fruit set and small berry size produced deeply concentrated wines. The 2015 growing season had fewer heat spikes than in 2014, which allowed for lower alcohol levels and balance. We suspect 2015 to be a year that will age very well and be touted as one of the superlative vintages of the decade in Oregon. In 2015, we created AVA-driven wines from sourced and estate fruit, as well as our very first top-tier Dundee Hills Vineyard designate from our Iron Filbert Vineyard.
2016
The vintage is a hypothetical chimera of the 2013 and 2015 seasons; it started warm and early similar to 2013, while nearing the cumulative heat of 2015. It ranks as the 3rd warmest vintage in the past ten years. 25% more precipitation than average was recorded, with rainfalls ideally timed throughout the growing season. These climate conditions made for vigorous vines and early véraison. The 2016 vintage produced spectacular ripe, round, fruit-driven, and balanced wines. Harvest started on August 24th and continued into the first week of September. Our small vineyard had ten individual picks to ensure complexity and optimal ripeness. In 2016, we continue to bring together sourced and estate fruit from our Petite Incline, Chardonnay, and AVA-specific incline labels. Our organically-farmed Dundee Hills estate stands beautifully on its own for a second vintage in the Iron Filbert bottling.
2017
2017 marks the first vintage of wines made entirely from our estate vineyards in Dundee Hills and Yamhill-Carlton. The former Petite Incline bottling makes place for our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, a blend of our organically-farmed estates. We are also pleased to introduce the first vintage of our top-tier Yamhill-Carlton designated wines from our Quartz Iron Vineyard. With a profile that most relates in style to 2008 and 2010, the wines from this vintage show excellent delineation and focus. The vines were not stressed throughout the season due to adequate soil moisture coupled with moderate temperatures, both of which brought a wine style of a more pensive quality than a hedonist profile.
2018
The 2018 vintage was idyllic. It offered steady ripening without heat spikes and lower-than-average precipitation in the late season, which allowed vintners to pick to suit their style. This created wines wite juicy and delineated fruit, similar to the 2016 and 2005 vintages, but with lower alcohols. We believe this vintage will be heralded as one of the greats! From 2017 and on, our focus is set on showcasing the purity and transparency of our two organically-farmed estate vineyards. Our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay combine fruit from both sites and tell the story of the vintage, Incline wines highlight the unique terroir of each estate, and our top-tier wines bring the very best of our Iron Filbert Vineyard and Quartz Acorn Vineyard for each vintage.
2019
2019 was more aligned with pre-climate change vintages that veteran vintners fondly reminisce on, the coolest vintage since 2011. The wines from this vintage are beautifully balanced, with a feminine character, lower alcohol, and brightness bolstered by fresh acidity. This vintage, we are thrilled to introduce a Rosé of Pinot Noir made from our Yamhill-Carlton estate vineyard.
2020
As winegrowers, we are tasked with expressing each unique vintage in its most authentic form. We must keep faith that mother nature will produce the finest wines, with the light guiding hand of the vintner. Although we were tempted to increase the "hand of the vintner" in 2020 due to the fiery season, we held course, kept the faith, and put the work in trusting the wines would be authentically beautiful. A cold and rainy period during flowering led to tiny clusters, resulting in deep flavor. The summer, which was 2 degrees warmer than average, was capped with wildfires beginning around Labor Day. The consequent smoke reduced daytime temperatures significantly, slowing ripening and extending hang time. This longer hang time translated into soft tannins and supple fruit. Coupled with an intentionally softer pressing regime, the wines are superb.
2021
We started sampling at the end of August, hopeful and excited for what seemed to be an immensely flavorful vintage. We kicked off harvest on August 30th and wrapped up Chardonnay the first week of September. On September 7th, we began harvesting and pressing our Rosé. By mid-September, we were well into picking out our Iron Filbert Vineyard. We started with Block 3, the bottom section of the vineyard and made our way up the hill steadily. The last pick for our Dundee Hills estate was on September 29th. This year, we incorporated a small percentage of whole cluster into the ferments. In hot, riper vintages like we are working with now, the stems are lignified enough to benefit and add beautiful complexity to the ferments. We began draining, pressing, and barreling down during the last week of September. It is a satisfying moment for the team to tuck away full barrels and know that the wine is safe from the elements. We brought in our first fruit from the Quartz Acorn Vineyard on Friday, October 1st.
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