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Adelsheim Chardonnay Willamette Valley

Adelsheim Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2023

  • Oregon
  • White

¥6,270 (incl. tax)

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.

 

Details
Country
America
Region
Oregon
Appellation
Willamette Valley
Winery
Adelsheim
Vintage(s)
2023
Color
White
Varietal(s)
100％ Chardonnay
Data
Closure
Screw Cap
Volume
750ml
Alcohol
13.0%
Product Code
2112123
UPC
0-11668-06022-0
Owning & Enjoying
Tasting notes

Wafting notes of yellow apple, Asian pear, crushed cinnamon stick, and lemon thyme rise out of the glass. The palate is pleasantly defined, offering both vibrancy and a delightful plushness. This serves as an excellent introduction to both Adelsheim’s winemaking style and the cool climate Chardonnays of the Willamette Valley at large.

 

Production
Terroir

The grapes in this wine come entirely from LIVE certified sustainable vineyards in the north Willamette Valley, most of which (87%) are Adelsheim estate properties. The elevation of these sites ranges from 450’-875’, with representation from all three of the major soil types in our region: volcanic, sedimentary, and loess soils.

Vintage Notes

 

 

 

Vinification

Fermentation

All of the grapes for this wine were hand-picked and gently whole cluster pressed. The juice was handled reductively with a minimum of oxygen uptake. After the juice settled for a few days, it was racked with medium clarity to a stainless-steel tank, at which point fermentation commenced.

 

Aging

During the early part of fermentation, the juice was transferred into French oak barrels—a combination of 228L barriques (106) and 500L puncheons(10)—to complete primary fermentation and then left to age in barrel for 12 months. Following primary fermentation 100% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation. Just prior to the following harvest the wines were racked out of barrel with the lighter lees, blended together, then aged in tank for another 5 months prior to bottling. The relatively long elevage for our Chardonnays helps build complexity and depth into the wine and allows the components to harmonize seamlessly prior to bottling.

 

 

Winery
Winery Description

Adelsheim Vineyard was founded with an optimistic spirit and a lofty dream: To create World-Class wines in an undiscovered wine region, the Chehalem Mountains of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Luck, fate, and a single-minded determination to make world-class wine in Oregon led David and Ginny Adelsheim to purchase their first 19 acres just outside Newberg, Oregon in 1971. Drawn to the uniqueness of the land and its proximity to Portland, it was here they decided to stake their claim, plant their first rows of Pinot noir along Quarter Mile Lane, and establish what would become the Chehalem Mountains’ first-ever winery in 1978—Adelsheim.