November 2022
It’s not every November that harvest is still in full swing here at the winery. A late April frost, coupled with the wettest spring in 80 years (you read that right!), delayed vine growth significantly across the Willamette Valley. Then, with great haste, the last weekend in June brought clear skies and blazing temperatures. Summer arrived with urgency it seemed, and from that moment on, nary a cloud or raindrop would be seen for the next 100+ days. Harvest began late for us at Mineral Springs Ranch, which is always a gamble in Oregon where fall arrives promptly and with plenty of rain in tow. However, in another unprecedented move, October weather remained sunny and temperatures lingered in the mid-80s, creating perfect late season ripening conditions. While some may say it’s too soon for broad quality judgements, from our perspective, 2022 is shaping up to be another incredible and wholly unique Oregon vintage.
While we’re still busy pumping, punching and pressing, we have three beautiful new wines to release this holiday season. The 2015 Blanc de Blancs is produced entirely from Chardonnay grown at Mineral Springs Vineyard. This is the sparkling wine that’s aged the longest on lees, a total of six years before being disgorged, in this case December of 2021. The dosage is quite low, and tips the scale ever so slightly adding texture and elevating fruit flavors rather than introducing sweetness. There’s an unmistakable thread of honey and white flowers that imbue the senses when tasting this wine. It creates an endless opportunity for food pairings – we recommend trying this with anything from roasted chicken to rich curries. A perfect segue into the holiday season.
Then there’s our 2018 Brut Rosé. This wine is vibrant and juicy and shows off an elegance only achieved by extended lees aging and high-quality grape-growing. The intensity of the 2018 vintage is evident in the bold color and penetrating flavors. It's clear this wine still has many years left to unveil even more complexity. You'll find flavors of both Pinot noir (79%), and Chardonnay (21%) woven together to express charismatic personality coupled with classy restraint. Together, they achieve attention-getting impact plus harmony and balance.
The 2020 growing season started in April with bud break, the true herald of harvest. The spring was temperate, and flowering occurred during a stretch of weather that included periods of scattered sunshine and light drizzly rain which resulted in a mix of large and small berries. Small berries mean more skin components per berry volume of juice, which in turn means more potential for color and concentration. Thus far, the vintage provided an infallible component for crafting excellent wine. By mid-august, under sunny skies, we were happily harvesting grapes for our sparkling wines, followed soon after by Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc.
The wildfires that punctuated the 2020 vintage started in our region on Labor Day, putting a literal cloud over the holiday weekend. Despite what felt like a regional event, we could document different effects over the span of only a few miles. We were fortunate to make some truly delightful wines from the vintage, albeit in very limited quantity. The 2020 Mineral Springs Ranch Pinot Noir is lithe, red-fruited and beautifully captures the essence of Mineral Springs Vineyard while preserving the character of the vintage developed from a pristine growing season prior to the fires. Chosen from our favored plots, the 2020 Mineral Springs Ranch has aromas and flavors suggestive of cherry, lavender, and wild blackberry. The delicate but profound tannins are well-integrated, never drawing your attention from the core fruit. While still very young, this wine deserves another year in the bottle to relax and fully express is charms. It shows all the promise to be age worthy, and increasing satisfaction for drinking now.
High Praise
2018 MINERAL SPRINGS ‘white label’ pinot noir - 99 pts, JAMES SUCKLING
“Hibiscus and perfectly ripe strawberries, like the best parcel in a top Tokyo department store. Hints of crushed stone and some lemon grass. Forest floor and some fresh mushroom, too. Full-bodied with fine, polished tannins that are layered and velvety. The finish goes on for minutes. Yet there is so much more to come.” Enjoy it now but your patience will certainly be rewarded. Very limited availability.
Harvest Journal
A COMPILATION OF HARVEST STORIES FROM MSR
Though the long days and even longer nights stretch together this time of year, they find that perfect tension where passion meets challenge. Many hands make light work, and when you combine our enthusiastic harvest team, nourishing meals, the occasional beer (or three), and a surprising amount of Enya, you get just that.
Visit the Winery
PROVISIONS TASTING EXPERIENCE
It’s November on the ranch and Chef Clayton’s menu is the embodiment of sweater weather. Delicata squash, freshly dug earthy potatoes, and wild, lobster mushrooms all grace the menu this month, alongside our newly release Pinot noirs. We are delighted to invite you to the Provisions Tasting Experience four days a week (Friday - Monday at 11:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.).
WHAT TO EXPECT
The Provisions Tasting Experience was designed to center you in the bounty of Mineral Springs Ranch – to envelope you in the sights, smells, and tastes of our farm and our region, and to celebrate what makes this place so incredible.
If you haven’t yet had the chance to join us for this unforgettable food and wine experience, we invite you to make it a top priority this fall as Chef Clayton Allen has been hard at work pushing the boundaries of traditional pairings and utilizing the edible gems of our farm with renewed zest and imagination.
With ever changing menus and seasonal highlights, this experience is worth double dipping. If you’ve sat with us before, or if its been a while, we’d love to have you back to toast the season.
As this experience is very limited, our tastings are often filled quickly. We advise you to select your booking date and to secure it with us as soon as you can. And in the meantime, we invite you to explore our chef-prepared recipes here to pair with our newly released wines.
