The Real Pioneers

Sometimes there are historic vineyards that just get overlooked. Like many of the vineyards in Oregon that were planted in the mid 1960’s to early 1970’s, Wirtz Vineyard is planted to mainly white grapes. David Wirtz was Charles Coury’s apprentice. He helped plant the original Coury Vineyard in 1966 and was good friends with the eldest Coury son. David’s father Reiner Wirtz was delighted to know that grape culture was returning to the north Willamette Valley and wanted in on the fun. The Wirtz family had vineyards on this same site prior to Prohibition. Reiner Wirtz began to collect budwood from grapevines in the area that had survived prohibition and began planting a vineyard in 1968 on the same Wirtz homestead from the 1870’s. The vineyard was expanded each year with cuttings from the Coury Nursery. By 1974 it was planted to 22 acres of own rooted Pinot Noir (4 clones), Riesling, Chasselas, Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, Chardonnay, Merlot, Black Muscat, Perle of Csaba, Muscat, Savagnin Rose, and Pinot Gris. Later on, grafted plantings of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris were added.

I have always been attracted to the Wirtz Vineyard, because of it’s intimate connection to the Charles Coury Vineyard and because there are some of the same rare and experimental grapes planted there. I think of these vineyards as siblings. When you walk these two vineyards they speak a similar language. They are on the same hill as each other, on the same soil types, and both have the same model of “homestead” house on the properties. They were also planted and tended to by the same people and their spirits still roam these rows.

I was lucky to get fruit from the Wirtz Vineyard in 2017 and set out to make my own white blend off this rare and special vineyard. Our “LOESS” white wine is a co-fermentation of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, and Savagnin Rose. There have been other “Edelzwickers” made off of this site by other wineries, but those wines had Pinot Gris in them. I did not want the Pinot Gris, because those vines did not come from the Coury Nursery, they came from another source. Plus, Chuck HATED Pinot Gris.

The grapes were picked on the same day and were whole cluster pressed together. This wine was fermented in neutral French oak barrels for 9 months before it was bottled unfined (Vegan) and unfiltered. This wine is DRY!

Wine Info

WINE TYPE:                      White
APPELLATION:                Willamette Valley AVA
VINTAGE:                           2017
GRAPE:                               Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, Savagnin Rose
ESTATE GROWN:            No, purchased grapes
VINEYARD SOURCE:     Wirtz Vineyard
VINEYARD AGE:             43 years old
DRY FARMED:                 Yes
OWN ROOTED:               Yes
SOIL TYPE:                        Laurelwood  (Loess)
ELEVATION:                     290 feet (88m)
HARVEST DATE:              October 15th, 2017
HARVEST METHOD:      Hand Harvested
BRIX AT HARVEST:         22
SKIN CONTACT:              None
CHAPTALIZATION:        No
FERMENTATION:            Ambient Yeast
MATURATION VESSEL:   228L Cadus (neutral)
ALCOHOL (by volume):   14.16%
SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO₂):  28ppm
ACIDITY SCALE (pH):        3.14
TOTAL ACIDITY:                  6.7 g/L
FINING AGENT:                   Unfined  (Vegan)
FILTRATION:                         Unfiltered
BOTTLE SIZE:                       750ml (Antique Green)
CLOSURE TYPE:                 FineCorkX (99.99% TCA free)
HAND BOTTLED:                Yes
PRODUCTION:                    109 cases
BOTTLING DATE:               July 10th, 2018
RELEASE DATE:                  November 14, 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.