Winery Profile

Production Philosophy

Elizabeth and Marietta sorting Pinot noir

Winemaking is a tough job. Not because there is too much to do, but because it is difficult to sit back and do nothing, letting the grapes and vineyard decisions project purely in the final wine. It's hard not to mess around with the fruit and potentially screw it up, trying to force-fit it into a personal style we have presumptively chosen for it. Our conviction is that we should develop processes that allow the fruit's potential to show through, not develop a wine that is heavy-handed technologically. We refer to this as Transparent Winemaking.

Pinot gris going to press

Philosophically, we believe in fully ripe fruit and we use our own fruit exclusively. We harvest to taste and balance in the vineyard (based on flavors, physical cues and site history--using numbers from analytical tools as confirmation only, although being inherently technocrats), and precisely control certain variables in fermentation—e.g., temperature—while using a diverse mix of other variables for complexity—e.g., yeast, coopers, oak forest, vineyard sites and clonal mixes. We've done experimentation like nerds, continue to "play" each year with a little fruit, and collect data and anecdotes continually.

For more specific winemaking philosophies based on each of the varietals we produce, go to our winenotes introduction pages.

Malcolm pumping over a Pinot noir fermentor

Greg filling barrels of Pinot noir

© CHEHALEM
31190 NE Veritas Lane • Newberg, OR 97132
Tasting Room (503) 538-4700 • Winery (503) 537-5553 • Fax (503) 537-0850