Developing Fitter Cultivars

Diverse pathogens have an adverse affect on commercial grapevine yield impacting fruit and wine quality. European evolved vitis vinifera lacks genetic resistance to North American evolved pathogens. In order to achieve stable yields and good quality fruit, grapevines are farmed with the intensive application of fungicides during the growing season. Fungicide application has negative consequences on the environment, is associated with health hazards for field workers and consumers of grapes and wine.

The approach of replacing conventional grapevine cultivars with pathogen resistant cultivars is the most sustainable alternative for farmers to pursue, but doing so using conventional plant breeding techniques requires a substantial time commitment from growers (about 25-30 years per cultivar). Bringing a new cultivar to market can take decades, and is such a challenge that it tests the ingenuity, patience, and persistence of commercial plant breeders. Frequently the resulting disease resistant cultivars make mediocre wine making it difficult for growers to sell and creating negative incentives for farmers looking to achieve sustainability. Vegetative propagation is the simplest and most effective way of propagating grapevines, so the industry isn’t self-correcting (although it could).

Introgression

Wild grapevines co-evolved with pathogens in North America and developed desirable genetic resistance traits to those pathogens. In order to equip European varieties with equivalent genetic resistance to these pathogens, crossbreeding is used to transfer resistant genes from wild grapevine relatives to winemaking cultivars. Introgression involves crossing a wild vine with a desirable resistance trait with a winemaking cultivar. The recipient plant undergoes several backcrosses to the winemaking cultivar along with recurrent selection of the desired resistance trait to get the winemaking quality as close as possible to the original. For a woody crop like grapevine with a lengthy juvenile period, this approach is labor and time-intensive without the certainty of a desirable outcome. From the first cross until the release of a new grapevine variety, on average 25-30 years pass for a successful outcome.

The reason why self-fertilized grapevines rarely breed true.

Every seedling generated by cross breeding represents a new unique variety. For this reason, evaluating fundamental traits for prospective backcrosses are largely determined by the intended use of the new cultivar. The most common trait assessed to retain in progeny is the trait being bred for, resistance to major pathogens. Then, in corresponding order of the plant breeders priorities, retention of hermaphroditism for self-pollination to improve yield, morphological traits such as cluster architecture, shoot growth and axillary formation are also highly prized. Assuming several prospective candidates are produced from this sorting process, the selected plants are vegetatively propagated and the evaluation of wine quality determinants (aromatic compounds, secondary metabolites etc.) is carried out. Finally, during the last step before the new variety release, the most promising breeding lines undergo several trials to test the agronomic performance in different locations and different environments. This provides the breeders an opportunity to investigate the interactive relationships between genotype and environment.

Due to the heterozygosity of a lot of genes in the grapevine genome, each backcross (even with the exact same plant through self-fertilization) can scramble the genetics of the the resulting progeny. In fact it is so difficult to get back to the original cultivar that most breeders stop well short of that, resulting in mediocre wine making quality but retaining disease resistance. For a simple dihybrid cross, offspring phenotypes will conform to a Mendelian ratio of 9:3:3:1. If you are looking for a doubly recessive outcome only one in sixteen offspring will have that. Plant breeders have to sort through thousands of offspring to select for promising candidates. Domesticated grapevines have more than 30K genes, and highly heterozygous genomes.

New Breeding Technologies

It is becoming easier to sequence grapevine genomes and to analyze the impact of genes via cross breeding and comparative analysis to select for traits using Mendelian genetic analysis and developing and isolating quantitative trait loci to establish where in the genome a desirable trait is located. Analyzing traits is reasonably straightforward when they involve a single gene with a simple dominance/recessive pattern.

History of grapevine gene sequencing

With tools like CRISPR it is possible to precisely repair or replace only the genes/traits you want to impact (and leaving everything else the same) by introducing, for example, disease resistance traits into European wine making grapevines from genes that originally developed in North American grapevines. The scientific community has made tremendous strides in the last couple of decades understanding plant genomics. Some genes conferring traits are well understood.

A decade from now grapevine nurseries using crude techniques like root grafting European cultivars onto North American rootstocks will be a thing of the past. Farmers will no longer be spraying fungicide and pesticides during the growing season onto their vines. Table and wine grapes will be safer for workers to farm, and healthier for grape consumers to ingest. The entire viticulture industry will be more environmentally sustainable and provide a better habitat for animals, insects  and other soil microorganisms that live in vineyards worldwide.

Valentine’s Day Feast

Valentine’s Day is almost here. For those of you planning an intimate dinner for your sweetheart, we have researched the top choices for foods that are traditionally associated with romance. And of course we have recommended some wine pairings!

Oysters with caviar, lemon, and Rosé

Appetizer: oysters with red-wine mignonette sauce

Suggested wine: Rosé of Pinot Noir

No food is more closely linked to romance as are oysters. Casanova, one of history’s most famous lovers, is said to have eaten fifty of them a day. We like the small and briny Kumamotos the best, simply served with a mignonette sauce. To be really decadent, put a little caviar—another aphrodisiac—on top.

At any time of the year, we might recommend a Champagne or a Sancerre, but for Valentine’s Day there can be no better match other than Rosé.

Seafood stuffed avocado with pomegranate and Chardonnay

Salad: avocado stuffed with lobster

Suggested wine: Chardonnay

Avocado was considered such a provocative-looking fruit—the Aztec name for it means “testicle”—that Spanish priests banned it. For Valentine’s Day, why not stuff it with rich and decadent lobster meat? After all, lobster has featured in some of the most famous romantic food scenes. In Tom Jones, the title character and a woman he meets at a tavern start their flirtation by cracking and sucking lobster claws; Jennifer Beals ate lobster sexily in Flashdance; and the mermaid played by Darryl Hannah was endearing as she ate a lobster, shell and all, in Splash.

Steak, asparagus, and Primeval Pinot Noir

Main course: sweetheart-cut ribeye steak with truffle sauce accompanied by asparagus

If lobster is the richest seafood available, beef is the meat equivalent. While we love big marbled ribeye steaks, we suggest an elegant tenderloin roast for your darling. The delicate nature of the tenderloin is the perfect canvas to show off the sensual, primal aromas of truffle. The great French food writer Brillat-Savarin said: “Whoever says ‘truffle’ utters a great word which arouses erotic and gastronomic memories.”

As an accompaniment to the roast, we suggest asparagus. In the nineteenth century, French bridegrooms were fed three courses of asparagus just before their wedding day.

Chocolate covered strawberries and tawny port

Dessert: chocolate-covered strawberries

Recommended wine: Tawny Port, Kopke’s 20 year old

Red is the color of Valentine’s Day, and we suggest ending your meal with heart-shaped strawberries dipped in chocolate. The Romans associated strawberries with Venus, the goddess of love. The Aztec king Montezuma, meanwhile, was said to drink 50 cups of chocolate a day to increase his sexual prowess. Whether you subscribe to these ancient beliefs or not, you have to admit there is something alluring about a fat, juicy, red strawberry. And there is no single food that evokes Valentine’s Day like chocolate.

Food & Wine Pairings

Wine can be enjoyed by itself but I think it really shines when paired appropriately with a meal. Some simple rules of thumb to follow for a good pairing are the following guidelines:

• Salty foods make wine pairing easy, just about any wine works.

• Acidic foods match best with wines that are equally high in acidity.

• Fatty foods call for high-acid wine styles.

• Spicy foods require low-alcohol wines with a hint of sweetness.

• Sweet foods pair best with sweet wines.

Try to match intensities when pairing, intense fattiness in food needs to be ‘cut’ by intense acidity in the wine. Generally wine should be sweeter and more acidic than the food. When matching wine with protein, pair the wine to the sauce not the protein.

Below are a few thoughts about food an wine pairings to consider.

Pinot Noir with Lamb and Mushrooms

If your main course features beef or lamb, we suggest a rich, full-bodied wine with more tannin. The 2021 Primeval pairs well with rack of lamb; and pinot noir is a traditional pairing with mushrooms, a side of chanterelles and a delicate crimini sauce work well as accompaniments.

What pairs well with Salmon?

In the Pacific Northwest we have abundant access to fresh salmon which can make for an extravagant dinner. A full bodied Rosé would pair well with grilled salmon, we believe a lighter fruitier Pinot is a better match. It has the right level of intensity to match the cooking technique but is still light enough not to overwhelm the dish.

Rosé and Oysters / Charcuterie

The most versatile choice for appetizers is Rosé. Light and dry with good acidity that complements a wide variety of popular finger foods. We especially like it with smoked salmon, oysters on the half shell, and charcuterie.

Chardonnay and Stuffed Avocado

A quick and easy to make food pairing for our 2021 Clarion Chardonnay involves and Avocado stuffed with seafood (preferably Dungeness crab) and drizzled with sea salt and pepper. The crispness and acidity of the wine balance the creaminess of the avocado and lemon with a bit of salt and pepper enhances the delicate flavor of the but brings out the subtle vanilla nuances from mostly neutral oak. This could be complemented by serving a Manchego cheese on the side.

What does Pinot Noir taste like?

Oregon's Willamette Valley is famed for producing complex, balanced, and terroir-driven pinot noirs. The Willamette Valley is in a relatively cool zone in the northwest corner of the state of Oregon at approximately the same latitude as Burgundy in France with similar weather. Here, the rolling hills are covered in vines that produce iconic pinot noirs with beautifully concentrated red fruit flavors and earthy undertones. The Willamette Valley is home to 74% of Oregon’s vineyards and 88% of Pinot Noir plantings in the state.

The lasagna like layers of soil from various geologic past events have shaped the hilly landscape; volcanic eruptions, the Missoula floods, tectonic plate uplift have all left behind a rich geologic legacy that the expressiveness of Pinot Noir provides AVA specific flavor profiles nuances based on which sub-appellations the pinot noir was grown in. The delicate cranberry and red currant pinot noirs of the Willamette Valley are expressive, yet more austere than richer versions from California. Yet they tend to be softer and more fruit driven than traditional Burgundy pinots.

Chehalem Mountains AVA - produces pinot with cherry, black tea and cinnamon aromas.

Ribbon Ridge AVA - produces pinot with intense cranberry flavors and rustic earthy notes.

Eola/Amity AVA - produces more delicate pinot noirs with lots of plum and spice character and incredible ageing potential.

Dundee Hills AVA - produces pinot with raspberry and black tea aromas.

Yamhill Carlton AVA - produces pinot with fruit-forward black cherry and vanilla flavors.

McMinnville AVA -- produces slightly darker, bolder pinots that are full of rich plum, black cherry and red currant with a complex pine earthiness in the nose.

How do you pronounce Pinot Noir?

The correct way to pronounce "Pinot" is "Pee-no," with equal emphasis on both short syllables. Many Oregonians put a little extra emphasis on the first syllable, making it sound more like "PEE-no." At our tasting room we hear more variations of "Noir." "N'war" is standard, although some like to say it with a little more flair, turning it into "Na-whar" or "No-aaaaaaaargh."

Is Pinot Noir Sweet?

Pinot is known for having a fruity aroma, which provide its sweetness yet still has a lightly dry finish. As Pinot ages, the wine aroma develops the earthiness that you expect of a fine wine.

Is Pinot Noir Dry?

Typically, Pinot Noir is made as a dry, light- to medium-bodied wine, with bright acidity, silky tannins and alcohol that ranges between 12–15%. The best Pinot Noir taste has complex flavors that include cherry, raspberry, mushroom and forest floor, plus vanilla and baking spice when aged in French oak.

Pinot Noir Calories

Pinot Noir is perhaps the best low-calorie red wine as it contains about 123 calories for a 5 ounce glass. A 750ml bottle contains roughly 650 calories. It’s interesting to note that not all wines are detrimental to weight loss. In fact, a study done by Washington State University found that some red wines (when consumed in moderation) can actually aid weight loss due to an element called resveratrol.

Should Pinot Noir be Chilled?

Yes, pinot noir should be refrigerated and served slightly below room temperature. It's recommended to be served at "cellar temperature" which is around 55-60°F. In the absence of a cellar, Pinot can be chilled in a wine refrigerator. Because Pinot is more delicate, acidic and lower-tannin than most other red wines, it is best showcased slightly chilled.

Pinot Noir vs Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot

The flavor of Pinot Noir is stronger than Merlot but less powerful than a Cabernet. Pinot Noir is like liquid silk. It has a lush, velvety texture and alluring berry notes with a hint of mushrooms and tea leaves. You'll notice a medium to high acidity, smooth tannins, and a long, lingering finish.

Wine Club Pickup & Paella Party

We will have Bomba Paella back out to serve up a delicious helping of Paella with complimentary wine tasting on 9/2 starting at Noon. Please stop by and join us!

We want to celebrate the bottling of our 2022 vintage with a celebratory feast.

Wine club members are free, and we’ll provide a sneak peak at the upcoming line up of wines. We’ve added a new SKU, Parable, to our line up for the 2022 vintage.

Whole Cluster Fermentation

We use whole cluster fermentation for our Aulos brand because we believe it results in additional structure and spicy tannins from the stems. Our 2021 vintage was the first time we use whole cluster fermentation, we started the first vintage of Aulos with 35% of the fruit being whole clusters from Wadenswil.

For the 2022 vintage, we went 100% whole cluster with our estate 777 selection, and used a hint of carbonic maceration to produce a lighter fruitier style of wine. We didn’t use a sealed fermentation vessel and relied on the blanket of CO2 produced by the fermenting fruit to push the grapes into anaerobic activity. In carbonic maceration, fermentation is not caused entirely by yeast inoculation, but instead occurs intracellularly within the grape, from the inside out. 

In an oxygen-free / anaerobic environment, the live berries begin to ferment from the inside. The grapes need a source of energy to maintain their cellular processes and organization. Under normal circumstances, they use oxygen from the atmosphere to break down sugar using aerobic respiration to produce CO2, water and energy. However, when atmospheric oxygen falls below 1%, grape metabolism to internal fermentation to break down sugars. In the absence of oxygen, grape cell metabolism converts sugar to ethanol through glycolysis followed by a final step that produces ethanol, a process much the same as yeast fermentation. 

This reaction only proceeds until approximately 1.5-2% alcohol has been produced inside the grape, at which point the accumulated alcohol becomes toxic to the cell causing it to rupture. The by-products of auto-fermentation introduce interesting flavors and aromas into the resulting wine. Phenolic compounds are released from cellular compartments; anthocyanins and eventually tannins leach from skins into the pulp. 

• Increase in berry aroma and flavor - Modification of the metabolic pathway that usually leads to the production of amino acids instead leads to the production of volatile compounds such as ethyl cinnamate, benzaldehyde, ethyl decanoate, and many others. These compounds contribute to aromas of strawberry, raspberry, cherry and kirsch that distinguish whole cluster fermented wines.

• Decrease in vegetal aroma and flavor - Lower oxygen limits the oxidation of fatty acids that can lead to production of C6 compounds hexyl acetate and hexanol, known for vegetal, tomato-leaf flavors and aromas.

• Development of tertiary aroma and flavors - Intracellular enzymes break down proteins, releasing amino acids that can later serve as nutrients for yeast and bacteria as well as and precursors to other flavors and aromas.

At the same time, polyphenols, known to most as tannins and anthocyanins, make their way from the grapes’ skin to the pulp, which turns the white flesh to a pink color. Once the alcohol reaches 2%, the berries burst, releasing their juice naturally. Fermentation finishes via yeast at that point as yeast grows naturally on the skins of grapes (if a natural fermentation is desired) we inoculate the juice with yeast.

The weight of the fruit in our fermentation vessel was sufficient to press juice from the clusters at the bottom and to get a traditional yeast fermentation going. A cap forms due to fermentation emitting C02 which causes a thick layer of skins, stems and seeds to rise to the surface of the vessel. We pumped juice from the bottom of the fermentation vessel over the cap to keep the cap moist and also to extract additional color from skins and stems, and additional flavor and aromas from the grape solids.

There are three fractions of wine at play in this process. The upper most grapes in the sealed fermentation container undergo auto-fermentation at the top of the vessel in the CO2 enriched environment. Grapes undergo auto-fermentation to a lesser degree in the middle of the vessel surrounded by yeast fermenting juice. And juice at the bottom of the vessel that is undergoing a traditional yeast based fermentation. The dimensions of the fermentation vessel vary the interplay and contribution to the resulting wine of these fractions. Initially there isn’t much juice at the bottom of the fermentation vessel but additional sugar and nutrients are added as auto-fermenting grapes rupture causing a slow and steady fermentation process. After 5-8 days auto-fermentation is complete and the remaining pulp is pressed.

The stems in whole cluster fermentation add potassium, which can elevate pH as potassium binds with tartaric acid to form insoluble bitartrate. Stems also contain methoxypyrazine (over 50% of the pyrazine in grape clusters are found in the stems) that can lead to interesting spicy vegetal/herbal notes (Oregano, Juniper, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Black Tea, Rosewood, etc). Stem tannins soften over time, in addition to adding interesting spiciness to the flavor and aroma, they also produce a silkier mouth feel to the wine while improving ageability. 

The controlled carbonic maceration technique was invented in the Beaujolais region of France, just south of Burgundy, where the light to medium bodied Gamay grapes are used to make Beaujolais. The reputation of those wines was elevated thanks to carbonic maceration, particularly Beaujolais Nouveau, an early-drinking wine released just weeks after fermentation is complete.

This process results in a low tannin, fruit driven wine style that’s lighter in color with low levels of acidity and fruity aromatics. Fresh, fruity, and light on tannins is the wine style we are after in Aulos - a wine intended to drink young, we consider it our summer Pinot. What we are trying to capture in Aulos is the terroir; a wine that is fresh as the memory of harvest and raw as the experience of the year, unpolished by time, purity in the reflection of the  moment.

Acclaim

The results are in! Our estate wines have recently won acclaim from prestigious sommelier tasting events across the country. James Suckling tasted Oregon wines through an Oregon Wine Board (OWB) event and we recently participated in a Texas Sommelier event called TEXSOM. In both cases our 2021 vintage impressed, and we are understandably proud of what we’ve accomplished with our estate wines.

Our Estate Pinot is turning heads and is something special to savor.

Our estate Chardonnay was granted this award on National Chardonnay Day. It also a huge fan favorite and is developing a cult following among our customers.

If you are a collector of peak experiences, permit us to be your flavor ambassadors. We invite you to come experience our wines as a form of spontaneous self expression so that you can nourish your taste buds with these fabulous wines.

What causes Red Wine Headaches (RWH)?

Low Histamine Wine

WV Pinot Test Results

Histamine <1 mg/L

Typical Red Wine Histamine Levels

Histamine 20-600 mg/L

According the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, approximately 1% of the population has histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance is due to an inhibited ability to degrade dietary histamine. Nonallergic food hypersensitivity is commonly known as food intolerance, a response triggered by a food or any of its components at a dose normally tolerated by the healthy population. Currently almost 20% of the world’s population suffers from some type of food intolerance, with lactose intolerance being the most common. Histamine intolerance is the clinical condition that describes the inability of certain individuals to degrade histamine and results in the onset of symptoms caused by its accumulation in the blood. Individuals that suffer a headache after drinking a small amount of red wine may have this condition.

Histamine is a biogenic amine that occurs in a wide range of foods in highly variable concentrations. Foods that potentially contain high levels of histamine are those that are microbiologically altered, such as fish, cured meats, aged cheeses, or fermented beverages, such as beer and wine in which bacteria associated with the fermentation process break down amino acids. The accumulation of histamine and other amines in food is the result of the transformation of amino acids by microorganisms, for wine this commonly occurs in fruit maceration with skins and/or stems being the primary source.

In healthy persons, dietary histamine can be rapidly detoxified by amine oxidases, whereas persons with low amine oxidase activity are at risk. Impaired histamine degradation can result histamine excess in the blood which may cause symptoms mimicking an allergic reaction, one symptom of which is a headache. The ingestion of histamine-rich food or alcohol that increase histamine levels beyond what can be metabolized may induce what is known as histamine intoxication.

Histamine intoxication is a kind of food poisoning that occurs after the consumption of foods with an unusually high histamine content that overpowers available degradation mechanisms. The onset has a short incubation period (i.e., 20–30 min post-ingestion), with symptoms that are generally of low/moderate severity and remit in a few hours.

The involvement of potentiators, such as alcohol, can alter the threshold dose for toxicity resulting in considerable interindividual variability in histamine tolerance. Alcohol, for example, completes with metabolic enzyme binding sites that are also associated with degradation of histamine in the bloodstream.

Amine production in wine is largely related to bacterial load, malolactic fermentation, use of SO2 and general wine cleanliness both in terms of fruit cleanliness and winemaking methods. Wine contains a diverse microbiome of organisms throughout the various stages of production, but is especially vulnerable in pre-fermented juice where the juice is microbially active and during malolactic fermentation before treatment with SO2. We use malolactic bacteria and yeast (Saccharomyces and Oenococcus) that have been commercially selected for very low amine production.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Wines have lower histamine levels?

White wines and Rosé have significantly lower histamine levels than red wines. This is due to no or limited skin contact during fermentation.

• White Wine & Rose ranges from 3-120 mg/L

• Red Wine ranges from 60-3800 mg/L with typical levels being in the 20-600 mg/L range

Can the the RWH condition be cured?

There are no available cures as far as I know, however a low histamine diet seems to help reset the bodies metabolism and reduce symptoms. In a study focused only on headache symptoms, Steinbrecher and Jarisch reported Diamine Oxidase (DAO) deficiency in 23 of 27 patients (85%). In parallel, the authors described a significant increase in DAO activity after patients followed a low-histamine diet for four weeks, along with a remission or reduction in frequency of headaches in almost 90% of individuals.

How can I get rid of excess histamines in my bloodstream?

If you are experiencing a headache that you suspect was caused by elevated dietary histamines, drinking lots of water helps as excess histamines leave your system during urination.

Are Wine Hangovers exacerbated by Histamine?

In a word, yes. Wine also contains several compounds in addition to histamine, collectively called congeners, such as sulfites, esters, and tannins. Research has shown that congeners in alcohol are a major contributing factor to hangover symptoms.(1)

In addition, several studies have shown that histamine, in particular, is one of the possible causes of wine headache and migraine.(2)

The theory is that histamine causes blood vessels in your brain to dilate. As a result, it causes increased pressure and triggers a cascade of events that ultimately leads to inflammation and pain. Histamine definitely doesn’t help with hangover symptoms and is likely one of the reasons why some feel that wine hangovers are worse than other drinks.

Is vitamin deficiency a cause of histamine intolerance?

Some experts believe that a deficiency in vitamin B6 and C is linked with histamine intolerance; these vitamins have been shown to relieve histamine intolerance symptoms.

Why is my body producing excess histamine?

Seasonal allergies are often the cause of histamine production in the body, but foods can also contain this chemical.

Are there red wines that are safe to consume if I have histamine intolerance?

All alcoholic beverages can be problematic for people with histamine intolerance because alcohol can make DAO less effective. Individual sensitivity varies and wine histamine levels aren’t typically advertised on wine. For a lot of consumers who enjoy red wines, the process of finding a brand that is safe to consume is a process of trial and error. 

Rosé Vintage Comparison

We tasted both vintages of Rose along with some Oysters and Dungeness crab at Taylor’s Shellfish in Seattle to determine which vintage is preferred the 2021 or the 2022 by customers.

The food pairing was an excellent complement to wines. The Dungeness crab was particularly delicious and the consensus was that Totten Inlet Virginica Oyster were preferable to the brinier Kumamoto. The Oysters were served with shaved horseradish and mignonette. And the creaminess of the Virginica and Dungeness complemented the wines well.

Mukund liked the 2022, he like the aromatics and the delicate flavor and commented that it would be his preference for tasting. Fenny liked the 2021, he felt that it was a bit more food friendly. After some discussion we achieved the kind of consensus friends reach after a couple of bottles of wine.

Taylor’s shellfish is a great place for seafood and wine pairing and a great spot to conduct an impartial taste test. I highly recommend it as a place to hang out with friends and serves as a reminder that a single glass of wine can light up the world.

2022 Rosé Release

We use the phrase “rosé all day” to promote our Rosé of Pinot Noir, but if you’re new to drinking rosé you might want to know how Rosé stands out from other red or white wines. We produce about 100 cases of Rosé each year and it is a highly regarded favorite of our customers.

Tasting notes for our 2022 Rosé are as follows: “ The wine opens with hints of honeysuckle, apricot, and peaches that form a bright counterpoint to the crisp acidity and grapefruit aromas in this classic Rosé of Pinot Noir. The supple fruit and pleasant aromatics round out the mouthfeel of this medium-bodied elegant wine.”

With its signature pink color, rosé can be difficult to classify. Rosé is typically made with red wine grapes, but it doesn’t belong to the red wine family. It is own distinct type of wine based on how the fruit is processed. We make ours from Pinot Noir fruit and ferment it dry, but the varietal and technique used is the winemakers prerogative. Rosé is considered a seasonally consumed wine, but it can be enjoyed all year.

Rosé get its distinctive color by leaving the crushed grapes in contact with the skins for several hours. The juice initially resembles what you’d expect from a white wine, but brief skin contact with the crushed fruit extracts anthocyanins and tannins that contribute color and flavor. The reason for doing this is that many of the aroma and flavor components in wine are located in the skin of the grape. Longer contact with skins extracts deeper color into the juice and changes the flavor profile. The macerated fruit is pressed after limited exposure to the skins to extract and ferment the juice. The remaining pulp is discarded.

Limited maceration time leads to shorter shelf-life, and less color stability in the resulting wine. Rosé is generally contained in clear bottles to showcase the color, however exposure to sunlight can cause color to fade. Rosé can improve significantly with aging due to how they are made, but its generally intended to be consumed after bottling. To allow our Rosé to have a longer shelf life we add a small amount of Pinot Noir to “color it up” before bottling, this adds richness and age-ability to the wine. However, it is a delicate balance - in the attempt to achieve a certain hue of pink by “coloring up”, the delicate flavor and phenolics of Rosé can be altered.

In the 2022 Rosé, we have opted for less color and a more authentic flavor as opposed to the 2021 Rosé where we opted for more color. We would characterize these two vintages of Rosé as a discussion about the dominance of representation over reality. Our winemaking style is to provide a fulcrum of provocative ideas in our wine tasting flights. We are using these first vintages to experiment with opposing points of view on how to generate flavor, and dialing color up or down in Rosé has a transformative power on flavor.

A very interesting flight for tasting would be to compare the 2021 and the 2022 to see that very small differences in wine making technique have a very large impact on the resulting wine.

2022 Vintage

2022 started with one of the wettest springs on record for the Willamette Valley. We experienced extended rain in the spring, the highest rainfall levels year to date since the 1940’s, affecting all crops in the northwest corner of Oregon. As far as I can tell that didn’t impact the vines and improved aquifer water table levels. In April the Willamette Valley received snow and several nights below freezing just as bud break was beginning. Primary bud formation was impacted, and once a primary bud dies, the secondary bud kicks in. This generally decreases grape yields significantly, by as much as half. Our estate Chardonnay block bore the brunt of the freeze damage as those vines were the first to stir from dormancy. Fruit set was delayed by several weeks pushing harvest into mid-October; the delay allowed clear warm weather for fruit set resulting oddly enough in heavier yields than in 2021. With a little mercy later in the year from Mother Nature we had a dry fall and good harvest conditions. The year slowly went from a glass half empty to a glass half full.

We had enough ambition remaining to start our first Sparkling Brut SKU, it’ll take a few years to produce and hope it is worth the wait. We also ended up signing fruit contracts to maintain our tonnage, however yields from our existing vineyards proved to be much better than originally expected and we ended up almost doubling the tonnage of fruit processed over our inaugural Vintage in 2021. We are excited about the potential for the 2022 Vintage, now that the juice is in the winery we are working on the 2022 lineup.

2022 turned out to be a great year for the Bacus family, we accomplished much in 2022 and look forward to seeing you all in 2023 when we open our tasting room. If there is anything you’d like to see us do next year, send us an email! We’d love to hear from you.

What Makes Oregon Special as a Wine Growing Region?

The Willamette Valley is an ideal environment for cool climate grapes such as Pinot Noir. The moderating influence of the Pacific contributes ocean breezes that wind their way through the coastal hills to temper the long dry sunny days of the growing season with cool nights. The valley also has a rich geographic history due to the historic Missoula Flood, which has deposited layers of of soil from as far away as Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The lasagna like layering of deposits range from Jory (reddish volcanic soil; rich in clay content, iron and other nutrients perfect for Pinot Noir) to limestone from ancient ocean sediment to more than 2,000 other soil types making the valley one of the most vibrant agricultural areas in the United States. Pinot Noir is transparent, it readily incorporates mineral uptake from the soil layers the roots grow through. This adds savory complexity to the wine which makes each boutique vineyard offering a distinct and nuanced representation of the place it was grown.

It’s about as close to perfect a place to have a vineyard for Pinot Noir as exists in the United States. The extraordinary microclimate of the Willamette Valley vineyards produces light bodied fruit with good acidity and phenolic aromas that conjure visions of blackberry or currants and leave a sense of place on the palette.

Winemaking is as much science as it is art, it is subtle - not revealing everything in a single impression. Every season is an experiment which requires a straightforwardness in grasping what the vines give you and acting on it. This is a place where great wines can be made, and that is what we are striving to do.

Bacus Vineyards Wine Club Membership

Give the wine lover in your life a gift they’ll appreciate all year. Bring people together for a cherished holiday event. Discover wine that you love. Personalize your membership, customize content or deliveries to suit your individual tastes.

We are proud of what we’ve done with our 2021 vintage, we feel that we’ve given voice to our site and its terroir. We’ve been able to articulate what nature provided in the bottle at its expressive best. 2021 was a warm easy year, a mid summer heat dome accelerated ripening and led to an early harvest.

Our tasting room is almost complete and we expect to launch in Q1’23. Accompanying the tasting room we are planting a paradise garden with a curated selection of plants chosen for specific contributions of color and scent to augment the tasting experience. A gentle breeze will stir a delightful mix of fragrance to accompany the industrious bees and birdsong. Each flower and stem will be a stroke of paint on an ever changing canvas to provide an overall impressionist aesthetic.

Heritage Vines

We grow and care for a range of heritage wine grape varietals across our three vineyard sites. Though these clonal varieties make up a small cross-section of the global selection, these selections produce a beautiful array of characteristics from skin thickness, to cluster and berry size, and - of course - flavor.

Pinot Noir, Pommard Varietal

All Pinot Noir clones and selections in North America originally came from France. The Pommard clones comes from a region in Burgundy, France called the Cote de Beaune. The varietal that originated there resembles the deeper, darker full bodied velvety red wines from Cote de Nuits, with intense fresh bright cherry flavors and ripe tannins that evolve into leather and chocolate with aging.

The Pommard clone (UCD 4) was brought to Oregon by Dick Erath and Charles Coury in 1965 as part of their joint nursery venture, and has become one of the most widely planted Pinot Noir clone in Oregon.

Pinot Noir, Dijon Clones (777, 115, 828)

In the 1984, Dr. Raymond Bernard, the regional director of the Office National Interprofessional des Vins (ONIVINS) in Dijon, France sent several Pinot Noir clonal varieties to the US (113, 114, 115, and in 1988 667, and 777) and Oregon State University nicknamed the imported cuttings the “Dijon clones”.

The latest Dijon clone to arrive in Oregon is 828 which is the primary varietal in our Rose. There is controversy over which makes the best Pinot Noir - wine from a single clone or a blend of clones, from official clones or indigenous clones, etc.

Chardonnay, 76, 95, and 96 varietals

Chardonnay also originated in Burgundy, France. The grape is malleable and takes on the impression of its terroir and winemaker. The Wente varietal was brought to California in 1912 by C.H. Wente a German immigrant who was in the first graduating class at UC Davis. He was able to get cuttings from the University of Montpellier which was a sister university to UC Berkley, then the agricultural extension to UC Davis at the time. This is the origin of the 76 clonal variety in our Vineyard

The 95 & 96 varietals are known for uniform fruit set under cooler bloom conditions, a higher number of moderate to large berries with more flavor concentration.

(Coming Attraction) Gamay Noir

Gamay vines are hearty and productive, much lower maintenance than the notoriously fickle Pinot Noir. During the Black Plague much of Burgundy was replanted with Gamay instead of Pinot, which made things easier for a time when farm labor was difficult to come by. By 1395 it had taken over so much of Burgundy that Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, issued an edict banning the grape from his lands - which decimated the Burgundian wine industry for several generations and Gamay was relegated further south to Lyon.

Gamay was introduced to Oregon by Amity vineyards in 1988.

We are open for eBusiness!

We’ve made fantastic progress in 2022; we’ve launched our website after having bottled our first vintage. Our 2022 harvest is complete, fruit has been picked and is undergoing fermentation.

States we have established distribution in (you can order from the web and have your order delivered - or you can pick up if you are local)

• Oregon

• Washington

• Michigan

• New York

• California

Next set of states we are establishing distribution in - Virginia, Colorado, Idaho, and Tennessee.

We are in the process of establishing a wine club, and have started received our first wine sales including a batch of heritage vines we cloned last year for Cornell Farms. To our first customers - thank you kindly!

We are planning to bring new wines into our future product line up; we are making our first sparkling Brut this year which is being made traditionally with a combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, we are also planting an acre of Gamay Noir at our Tres Lapin Vineyard to finish the 2022 season in style.