2017 Müller? Müller Thurgau (orange)
Those of you who grew up in the 1980’s will surely get this pop culture reference. When the opportunity arose to source some old vine Müller Thurgau also from the early 1980’s I couldn’t resist. I have been impressed with many of the Müller Thurgau wines from Austria and so this is an unabashed nod to those wines, albeit with an Oregon twist.
Green Papaya + Mangos 🥭
The concepts, theories, and applications of orange wines are vast. As with most of my wines, I use the whole cluster when making wine. There is flavor in the juice, skin, and stem of a grape. So, why is most white wine made with ONLY juice? Old wine cultures knew that there is natural preservatives in the skins of the grape (see red wine production), as well as, color, tannin, and other flavors. So, they used the whole cluster, not just the juice. I had always wanted to make an orange wine but struggled to think of a grape that hadn't already been "done" before. Enter Müller Thurgau. One day after casually looking over the harvest statistics from the previous vintage compiled by the Oregon Wine Board, I noticed that coming in last place was Müller. I knew then, that I found my wine. Who doesn't like to champion an underdog?
WINE INFO
WINE TYPE: Orange
APPELLATION: Dundee Hills AVA
VINTAGE: 2017
GRAPE: Müller Thurgau
ESTATE GROWN: Purchased grapes
VINEYARD SOURCE: Armonea Vineyard
VINEYARD AGE: 38 years old
DRY FARMED: Yes
OWN ROOTED: Yes
SOIL TYPE: Volcanic
ELEVATION: 820 feet (251m)
HARVEST DATE: September 6th, 2017
HARVEST METHOD: Hand Harvested
BRIX AT HARVEST: 22.1
SKIN CONTACT: 7 days
CHAPTALIZATION: No
FERMENTATION: Ambient Yeast
MATURATION VESSEL: 228L DAMY & 228L Cadus
ALCOHOL (by volume): 12%
SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO₂): 17ppm
ACIDITY SCALE (pH): 3.70
TOTAL ACIDITY: 5.4 g/L
FINING AGENT: Unfined (Vegan)
FILTRATION: Unfiltered
BOTTLE SIZE: 750ml
CLOSURE TYPE: FineCorkX (99.99% TCA free)
HAND BOTTLED: Yes
PRODUCTION: 95 cases
BOTTLING DATE: May 29th, 2018
RELEASE DATE: June 7th, 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.
