2016 Brick House Chardonnay

Vineyards: Located in the Ribbon Ridge AVA, Brick House Vineyard is a south and east facing vineyard planted on marine sedimentary soils at 450 ft elevation. Established in 1990 by Doug Tunnell, Brick House Vineyard is a Demeter certified biodynamic farm. Winemaker John Grochau worked under Tunnell from 2001-2004 and has an intimate knowledge and affinity for this site. Grochau chose the Dijon 76 block  of Chardonnay to make this wine.

Winemaking: Grapes were picked on the early side to retain acidity and were pressed whole-cluster. The juice was settled for 24 hours before transfer to three neutral oak barrels and a French puncheon. The juice was inoculated with three different strains and fermented in barrel with occasional batonnage. Once dry, the wine completed malolactic and remained sur lie for 16 months.

Harvest: 2016 was the third year in a row where harvest began three weeks earlier than the average start date in the Willamette Valley. Harvesting began on September 9th and finished by September 21st. It was a relatively easy growing season and all the fruit was clean and ripe thanks to great farming by our vineyard partners.