Adelsheim

Winemaking Philosophy:

Chardonnay, like Pinot noir, is a very responsive grape. Chardonnay, like Pinot noir, is a very responsive grape. If one is not careful it can show the winemaker’s intent quite clearly, with the vineyard becoming a secondary thought. At Adelsheim, we prefer to center the place where a wine comes from—the vineyard, the soils, this beautiful place we call home. Over our many years of winemaking we have found that restraint is the key to this goal. To that end we tend to pick early, preferring the vibrancy and elegance of such an approach. We treat the juice reductively to prevent undue oxygen pickup prior to fermentation. We use 500L puncheons whenever possible, accepting how heavy and unwieldy they are in favor of their substantially lighter oak impact. We choose to leave the reasonably abundant lees bed unstirred in order to limit overt development. The goal with all of these decisions is to produce wines of character and internal substance—intensity without heaviness, density without weight—that represent and respect their home in the Chehalem Mountains.

Winemaking Philosophy: Pinot Noir has been a part of the Adelsheim story since the very beginning in 1971. Today, the Willamette Valley is undoubtedly recognized as an ideal location for this evocative varietal. Adelsheim’s Willamette Valley blend is the culmination of years of winegrowing insight. Our largest bottling, the intention is to share our craft and sense-of-place near and far. We prefer to be responsive to vintage and leverage our years of experience, letting intuition and taste guide the way. Some vintages and vineyard sites, for instance, respond better to whole cluster fermentations, such that the amount of stem inclusion changes for each wine and vintage. Our cap management during fermentation consists primarily of pump overs, with our daily tastings indicating the need for an occasional punch down. Certain wines have longer elevage in barrel in given vintages purely based on their pace of development. All of these winemaking choices are in service to our ultimate goal—to respect and enhance the inherent qualities of our vineyards.

At its core Breaking Ground Chardonnay is an exploration of our backyard and the wonderful delights found there. We are always careful to include fruit grown in the three major soil types of our region marine sedimentary, volcanic basalt, and wind-blown loess. Each provides a unique character to the resulting wine. It is our annual charge in the cellar to produce a wine that can unify these distinctive pieces into a cohesive picture, one that best illustrates our corner of the Chehalem Mountains.

“It’s hard to remember a time when there wasn’t any Chardonnay planted at our Ribbon Springs vineyard, but the reality is we made that transition in 2015—not very long ago in the life of a grapevine. I suppose it seems longer in my mind because the Chardonnay from Ribbon Springs is already iconic here at Adelsheim. It has such a lovely expression and a distinct sensibility. It could come from no other place.”
-Gina Hennen, Winemaker

Ribbon Springs is such a special place, immediately recognizable whenever we bring someone there for the first time. The property is sizeable but we have only half of it planted to grape vines; the rest is all rolling hills and forest and animal habitat. It’s quiet. It feels like you’re in a private preserve, tucked away from the world of vehicles and people. Plus it has the best wild blackberries in all of Oregon. True story. And when I go there to sample grapes on the cusp of harvest I’m definitely not eating them all up.

- Gina Hennen, Winemaker