2017 'OLMO' Flora
Our 2017 'OLMO' Flora is the second ever 100% Flora wine made in Oregon.
Flora was developed in 1938, by Dr. Harold Olmo at UC-Davis. This grape is a cross of Sémillon and Gewurztraminer. It was created for cooler California climates and offered a wine grape that was lower in acid and more pleasing to the current American wine consumer at the time. Highly acidic wines have never really been popular in the USA. This grape provides an amazingly smooth wine drinking experience. It's got a bit of an oily texture, subtle aromatics (surprising considering its Gewurztraminer parentage), and a lemon with honey flavors.
There isn't a lot of Flora left in the USA, so we are very proud to be making wine from some of the oldest known Flora vines in the country. We hope that you enjoy this rare piece of Oregon's vinicultural history.
True American Grapes
"Another Rare Creature" is a quote my colleague Matthew Rorick, winemaker of Forelorn Hope Wines states on his wine bottles. This phrase is apt for this little wine treasure as well. Flora was one of the first wine grapes created specifically for California's cooler climate wine regions by the famous Horticulturist; Dr. Harold Olmo. This grape was developed in 1938 at the Agricultural Experiment Station managed by the Universtity of California - Davis and released for commercial use in 1958.
Flora is a cross between Gewurztraminer and Sémillon. It retains a bit of the "spice" of Gewuztraminer with the waxiness of Sémillon. It has a very low acid profile and produces wines that have a very smooth texture. It was a grape that was mis-used for many years by industrial wine producers who valued its low acidity. There are only 22 acres of Flora left in the world. Most of it can be found in Australia, New Zealand, and California.
Our Flora is the first (and only?) vines of their kind to be planted in Oregon back in 1966. One can only assume that Mr. Coury crossed paths with Dr. Olmo at UC-Davis while he was a student there in the early 1960's. One can also assume that this plant material was collected from Dr. Olmo's original research vineyard at UC-Davis.
Our 2017 'OLMO' Flora is the second varietal release from the historic Charles Coury Vineyard (now: David Hill Vineyard). We hope you enjoy this unique piece of Oregon wine history.
WINE INFO
APPELLATION: Willamette Valley
WINE TYPE: White
VINTAGE: 2017
GRAPE: 100% Flora
ESTATE GROWN: Purchased grapes
VINEYARD SOURCE: David Hill Vineyard
VINEYARD AGE: 51 years old
DRY FARMED: Yes
OWN ROOTED: Yes
SOIL TYPE: Laurelwood (Loess)
ELEVATION: 490 feet (149m)
HARVEST DATE: September 29th, 2017
HARVEST METHOD: Hand Harvested
BRIX AT HARVEST: 22.8
SKIN CONTACT: None
CHAPTALIZATION: None
FERMENTATION: Ambient Yeast
MATURATION VESSEL: 228L DAMY
ALCOHOL (by volume): 12.50%
SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO₂): 20ppm
ACIDITY SCALE (pH): 3.72
TOTAL ACIDITY: 6.0 g/L
FINING AGENT: Unfined (Vegan)
BOTTLE SIZE: 750ml (AG)
CLOSURE TYPE: FineCorkX (99.99% TCA free)
FILTRATION: Unfiltered
HAND BOTTLED: Yes
PRODUCTION: 35 cases
BOTTLING DATE: July 10th, 2018
RELEASE DATE: September 1st, 2018
This wine was bottled in 🇺🇸 made glass, with a cork from 🇮🇹 and a label that was designed and printed in the 🇺🇸 .
Please ♻︎ this bottle when you are finished enjoying it.
