2019 Melon de Bourgogne
Our Melon de Bourgogne comes from Stavig Vineyard located about 15 miles away from Portland in Happy Valley, Oregon. The vineyard is an old riverbed with fairly rocky soils and volcanic overlays. The rocky composition harkens to Muscadet’s gravely soils in the western Loire Valley.
2019 Vintage: A relatively mild and early winter was followed by a wet, yet warm spring. The growing season saw a few mild frosts during late April, but started off warmer than average, moderating through mid-vintage with fewer than average heat spikes and near-record precipitation during June and July. The vintage will be remembered for the early rains in September and rapid cool down into October which challenged harvesting decisions.
We used two different vessels for fermentation and aging: two concrete eggs and three 500 liter Acacia wood puncheons —each one having its own textural imprint on the wine. This wine was aged Sur Lie for 8 months before bottling.
Winemaker note: “I make this Melon de Bourgogne simply because I like Muscadet. It’s a great food wine for the local seafood we have. The wine is bright, mineral, earthy, and not too fruity.”