Our Wine
Current Releases
2011 Gamay Noir
Moderate, purple-garnet color. Expressions of earth, peat, and tea leaf show richness and complexity, while a fruit forward palate consisting of black cherry, strawberry and acid show finesseand youth. This rustic, spicy, cool-vintage Gamay is a wonderful complement to anything from grilled meats to wood-fired pizza or a meatier fish and pasta.
2011 3 Vineyard Pinot Noir
A classic red-fruited Pinot Noir with dark, earthy, savory elements, characteristically cracked pepper, tea leaf, cinnamon, charcoal, matchstick, spice and plum. The acidity of the vintage gives a structure to suspend wood and tannin elements playfully on the palate. Balance is excellent, length good and final impressions are red, delicate and complex. Silk nap grip on the palate and acidity guarantee a very long life.
2011 Corral Creek Pinot Noir
The freshness found in 2011 Corral Creek Pinot Noir is one of the reasons we love Chehalem Mountains AVA so much. The first thing you notice is the lovely red garnet color, beautiful clarity, and a vibrant persistent tart red cherry aroma and flavor. Tannin appears subtlety, almost as a silk nap texture, and is joined to bright acid and sea-air minerality. The finish shows cherry cola, light roast coffee, raspberry, and red plum skin, and the oak is light, yet integrated and complex. Give this elegant beauty a few more years to truly open-up.
2011 Stoller Pinot Noir
Stoller Pinot Noir really excels during cooler vintages – the earthiness and spice aren’t overwhelmed with ripe fruit, and you see a seamless integration in texture and delicate acid. This one in particular shows bright color and a palate that is light and still a bit tight, even 9 months after bottling; somewhat atypical characteristics for Stoller Vineyards. The nose has warm aromas of resin, dusty fruit, seasoned wood, brown spice, white pepper, and milk chocolate. Follow all that by soft tannins and a sour-cherry-accented lingering finish – Beautiful.
2010 Ridgecrest Pinot Noir
A complex, 3-dimensional, dark-fruited Pinot Noir, with Christmas spice, molasses, dark chocolate, sassafras and tobacco accents, this is a rich wine typical of Ribbon Ridge. The cubic nature of the wine shows fleshy berry fruit and wood spices, but interleafed with broad, subtle, smooth and velvety tannins, and sewn together by light acidity. Young, rewarding more time in the bottle.
wine note for 2010 Ridgecrest Pinot Noir (pdf)
2010 Reserve Pinot Noir
This Pinot is truly reserve status. It opens with soft, sensual, ripe red fruits, berry pie, sun-warmed strawberries and sweet red cherry. On the nose you encounter cinnamon gum and baking spice, shuffled with tea, dark chocolate and cigar box. The finish is still young and firm, but there is delicacy and ageable notes from lilac blossom and pine resin. A wonderful wine for years to come.
2008 Statement Pinot Noir
This wine is only made in very special vintages. The wine is dense, three-dimensional, well-structured in acid and tannin, spherically balanced and the epitome of Ribbon Ridge’s red-black Pinot Noir capabilities. Expect to be wowed today, but also expect a classic scenario of pulling this wine from cellar in 30 years and wondering how a wine could be this good.
2011 INOX® Chardonnay
Bright, clean, flinty-briney, with mineral, lime and tropical fruit aromatics, this wine is all about freshness, bracing and balanced acidity and flavors that are linear, including ginger, white pepper, stone fruit, apple pie and slate. The palate weight is impressive for an unoaked chardonnay, the finish prolonged, and the purity leaving the sense it will age impeccably. May be the best INOX we’ve made.
2012 3 Vineyard Pinot Gris
This Pinot Gris is a platinum blonde bombshell. With the warmer weather 2012 brought to Oregon, we were able to bring ripe tropical notes and rich floral aromas out of all 3 vineyards of our Pinot Gris. We start with sweet yellow peach, juicy ripe pear, key lime, and ruby grapefruit, followed by layers of jasmine, day lily, and rosemary to accent the nose. The palate is rich and smooth, with just enough tangy acid to tether the loosely jointed edges of this wine. Seamless, weighty, and lovely.
2011 3 Vineyard Riesling
Very pretty white and yellow fruits of lemon curd, apricot, orange blossom, lemon verbena, white peach and green apples, tethered by zippy acid tension and a balancing sugar component for weight – 25 grams of RS per liter, but the impression is dry to medium dry. The length is beautiful, finishing clean and aging potential a generation or two. Demands Pad Thai or the like.
2011 Corral Creek Riesling
This Riesling is wonderfully intense and bright. The aromatic nose hints at talc, slate, honeysuckle, candied ginger, kiwi fruit, dried apricot, and clover-honey. There is a perfect balance on the palate of residual sugar, firm structural acid, weight, and a clean, silky finish. This is a true cellarable wine to impress friends, year after year.
2011 Wind Ridge Block Riesling
This is the very first vineyard-designate Riesling we’ve done from our Mother Block up at Wind Ridge, and we couldn’t be more excited! 2011 is known for acid and ageability, and this is a pinnacle for the potential of Riesling. The nose shows lovely and effusive fruit, graphite, green apple, honey, allspice, and ginger. The palate is lush, fruity, and very rich in texture, with balanced acid and moderate sweetness, enough of it all to balance well for a long time. We will be opening this wine for the next 40 years, if we have any left.
2012 SEXT Riesling
We hope you have brunch plans, because this will be an integral piece. SEXT this year shows characteristic Spring-time freshness with white blossoms, jasmine, daphne, and gardenia bouquet. This vintage is riper than the previous few years, meaning acid is down a bit, and so is the sugar content, but this doesn’t mean we are lacking any sweet flavors; there’s plenty of dried apricot, ripe pear, and peach flourishing. The finish has notes of fresh hops, a juicy palate, and beautiful spritz and concentration.
2012 Grüner Veltliner
Grüner is accentuated by vintages that help amplify richness and spice in white wines, and 2012 was a near perfect example. This wine shows brilliant platinum color in the glass, light sweet fruit on the nose, and clean length and persistence on the palate. To elaborate, the fruit shows peach pit, lychee, honeydew, and tart green apple. The nose has punctuations of glycerin, honeysuckle, stone, white spice and blossom, and is both lengthy and bright to boot. Finish it off with exacting balance, salinity, roundness, a bit of silky texture, and a burst of acid. Wie schön (how lovely)!
2011 Pinot Blanc
Platinum, rich and structured, this IS the best Pinot Blanc we’ve done. Aromas and flavors are interestingly integrated fruit and floral notes of peach, pear, dried rose, lily, and orange blossom, with cream and custard flavors and palate weight – silky, velvety, juicy, smooth and soft. The balance is perfect, with great acidity tempered by fruit sweetness and a complex stoniness. Luscious nose continuing to a luscious richness on the palate, ending with a demand for another glass.
2010 Pinot Gris Reserve
Pale golden color with oily, filling, yellow fruit. The palate is bone dry but the luscious roundness makes it appear much more mouth-watering and full. There is a lingering presence of lychee fruit, slate, Earl Gray tea, soft vanilla, sage, and balanced acid. Very powerful and beautiful at the same time.
2010 Ian's Reserve Chardonnay
This chardonnay is a varietal pinnacle, with warm-year influences of ripe peach or pear and baked apple with a touch of nutmeg, buttered pastry crust or creamy bread pudding, and golden raisins. The mouth encounters a rich, full structure, with tannin worthy of moderate age, as well as glycerol and length. Overall, a very beautiful blonde.
© CHEHALEM
106 South Center Street • Newberg, OR 97132
Tasting Room (503) 538-4700
Winery (503) 537-5553
Fax (503) 537-0850
Web Design by Rareheron Web Design
Portland, OR
Chehalem Newsletter | Join Our Mailing List | Harvest 2012 | Privacy Policy | Site Map
