J.C. Somers Croft Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2022

The Croft Vineyard located in Oregon's Willamette Valley is organically farmed and grown in ancient marine sediment soils. We have worked with this vineyard since 1999 and it consistently produces a classic style of Sauvignon Blanc with a purity of fruit, balanced acidity and a focused minerality.

2022 was a cooler vintage resulting in a wine with higher acidity and lower PH at harvest time. I typically block the malolactic fermentation however due to the low PH I decided to do a partial malolactic on this wine. Because of the decision to let the malolactic fermentation start on the wine I aged it for a longer time than usual, 11 months. This helped the influence of the malolactic fermentation settle and integrate with the rest of the wine. The result is nice richness with balanced acidity and low alcohol.

Aged in concrete egg (45%) and stainless steel (55%) for 11 months.

J.C. Somers is the collaboration between Jay Christopher Somers and his longtime part-ner and wife Ronda Newell-Somers. The label displays the New Moon which signifies a new phase in their winemaking adventures.

Owner and native Oregonian Jay Somers has been making wine in the Willamette Valley for more than 30 years, and established the J. Christopher brand in 1996. Working with great winemakers like his mentor John Paul of Cameron Winery and time spent at Ad-elsheim and Dry River in New Zealand Jay’s wines are hand-crafted in small lots and are sourced from some of the best vineyards in the Willamette Valley. The philosophy at J.C, Somers is to produce wines in an Old World style that emphasizes focus, length and Balance. As Jay puts it, “We do not make fruit bombs. We want wines that have a fine bal-ance of fruit, acidity and texture. We want wines that give you more than just a big mid-palate blast — wines that are complete.” The key to this, Jay firmly believes, is patient winemaking — it is vital not to rush things and allow the wines to develop naturally. The wines should evolve at their own pace, with a minimum of intervention. He is taking in-spiration from wines of the Old World and applying it to the terroir of the Willamette Val-ley. When Jay is not busy making wine he is usually playing guitar and composing new music for his band Portland Cement, check out their new album "The Road to El Groove" on your favorite streaming app.