This is our first wine from a site at 1400 feet on the west side of Underwood Mountain. The site was organically farmed prior to its purchase a few years ago and the farming is now regenerative with animal integration, minimal mowing, and a wide variety of plant life in different states of growth beneath the vines. It feels absolutely lovely to be in and close to the feeling we get when we are working in our own vines.

Underwood Mountain is an extinct shield volcano with south facing slopes looking straight down on the Columbia. It is “Big River” grape growing and as close to the feeling that one gets from being on the Rhine or the Mosel in North America. It is also a very cold place to grow grapes (Albarino ripens in November here!) and given the proximity to Mount Adams and Mount Hood it feels very Alpine. At their best wines from here combine the attributes of wines from the Mosel with Alpine ones encountered in places like the Eisack Valley or Valle d’Aosta.

To further complicate the puzzle of Germanic wine references, this is our attempt at a Gemischter Satz-esque wine; the blends of many varieties grown within the city limits of Vienna and served in traditional wine bars there. We picked Gruner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Blanc together, fermented them on the skins whole cluster for nine days, pressed them by foot in a wooden press back into a wooden tank to complete their fermentation “en cuve”, before barreling back down into smaller old casks to age. We bottled this early, without sulfur, to capture as much energy and life as possible. 356 cases made.

The resulting wine captures all these referenced worlds. It glows and just alludes to orange. It tastes of melon, long pepper, and green high mountain oolong. The presentation of these is extremely delicate, precise, and tea-like.