A dream come true..."From Vine to Wine"

The "From Vine to Wine" project is underway. Two acres of Sauvignon Blanc will be planted in Oregon's Willamette Valley AVA this spring. This project will be used as a teaching experience for my staff at Willamette Valley Vineyards to see a vineyard from the very start and along the way I will teach them different lessons like disease and pest management, cycles of the vineyard, cover crop management, pruning, leafing, etc. The project will be documented in words, videos and photos and I hope to create a documentary to debut with the release of the wine in 2014 or 2015.

According to the Vineyard report for 2009, there were 67 planted acres of Sauvignon Blanc in Oregon and 43 acres were harvested. The average ton per acre was 2.67 tons and 115 total tons were harvested in 2009. Price per ton averaged around $1,620.

Friday night Willamette Valley Viticulturist, Chelsea Brittan, and I tasted six Sauvignon Blancs from around the world to help us determine the profile and style of Sauvignon Blanc to plant. The lineup included 2008 Patricia Green Sauvignon Blanc (Croft Vineyard, Oregon), 2008 Andrew Rich Vintner Sauvignon Blanc (Croft Vineyard, Oregon), 2009 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand where I worked!), 2008 Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc (Chile, where I wish I had worked!), 2007 Hill Family Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley, CA) & a 2008 Chateau Saint-Florin Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend (Bordeaux, France where I will be headed this winter for vacation!).

After two grueling hours of smelling, swirling & tasting, then smelling, swirling and tasting again, we came to the following conclusions:

1. I love Sauvignon Blanc (SB, Sauvey).

2. Create a SB that does not overwhelm you with the well known cat pee, gooseberry nose, but we definitely don't want to hide all of that unique SB characteristic.

2. Add a touch of Semillon to the SB blend to create a creamy mouthfeel and to mask a little of the vegative, herbaceousness.

3. SB profile should have a slight gooseberry nose, with hints of lime, citrus and bell pepper aromas.

4. Mouthfeel should be somewhat creamy (maybe sur lees for 1 year in oak barrel) and blend with SB that has been fermented in stainless steel to get a nice fruity balance.

5. Clonal selection and rootstocks debating at this point are clones 1, 14 & 27 with a row of Semillon. Chelsea to call on some California vineyards to help us with this selection.

6. As for trellising, well there are a few options we are kicking around. We are considering the traditional VSP method or a crazy four cane trellis system that has been trialed in California and used in New Zealand.

Stay tuned for more information on "From Vine to Wine" at Willamette Valley Vineyards. This project is going to follow these 2 acres of Sauvignon Blanc from vine to wine over the next 3-4 years. There will be pictures, videos and stories documenting this project and a huge celebration when the SB is produced, by me, and in the bottle.