Crowley Wines Chardonnay, Willamette Valley '22

Tyson Crowley of Crowley Wines may be a newer name to many wine drinkers, but he is no upstart. He has worked in the business for many years, including a stint as assistant winemaker at Cameron Winery, in the Dundee area of the Willamette Valley, for five years. It was there, in 2005, that he made his first four barrels of wine. A couple years later, he moved to the August Cellars Studio, and he now makes a total of about 85 barrels of excellent Chardonnay and Pinot Noir annually.

Having worked in the Oregon wine industry for over two decades, he has a strong network of friends and growers. Crowley works exclusively with sustainably and dry-farmed, family-owned vineyards and has a close working relationship with all the growers to ensure balanced fruit that requires minimal intervention in the winery. He also prefers working with fruit from cool, high-elevation sites, and with older clones of Chardonnay. Crowley is a member of the Deep Roots Coalition, a group that advocates to produce wine sourced only from vineyards that are not irrigated. The vineyards Crowley works with include Four Winds, at 800 feet in elevation, in the McMinnville Coast range; La Colina, in Dundee Hills; Tukwilla and Geary Claim, both in Dundee Hills and next to each other; and Sojeau, at 650 feet elevation, in the southwestern part of Eola-Amity AVA.
 
The goal in the winery is to best express the wine’s vintage and sense of place, or terroir, without sacrificing elegance and taste. This includes using native yeasts and practices such as extended aging in mostly neutral oak and minimal fining or filtration.
 
The 2022 Willamette Valley Chardonnay is made from a combination of Draper and Wente clones. It is fermented in barrel and aged for 11 months, then transferred to stainless steel for five months before bottling.

Beautiful aromas of white peach and citrus peel. This white wine is both vibrant, but textural, with notes of hazelnut and spice on the finish. Delicious!