2022 Lucidité WV Chardonnay

More white grape than White Snake

A Story: The best Oregon Chardonnay is about having the right plant material growing in the right place. One example is here.

The Cliff Notes: The color is bright yellow gold. The nose suggests cardamom, powdered ginger, green grass, Play-doh, dried vanilla and juniper. As basic as it sounds, the palate is white grape, then lemon/lime/kumquat. The wine well balances its medium weight with good persistence and ends on refreshing acidity.

The Vintage: The start of the 2022 growing year was fraught for many with frost occurring in early budbreak and ensuing inconsistent growth on secondary shoots. We are lucky to enjoy vineyards, including our own, that are at higher-cooler elevations which promoted slightly later bud break and therefore more normal to robust growth.

The Building of: The grapes were whole-cluster pressed at the lighter end of the spectrum, then wild-yeast barrel fermented in French Oak for a year (one new, one once filled, six older), before resting on light lees in stainless, prior to bottling, unfiltered in March 2024.

Ageability: Expect a five- to seven-year drinking horizon.

Vineyards: Temperance Hill sits like an old European crown at the top of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Our St. Dolores Estate sits equally high on a hilltop in the Chehalem Mtns. AVA. Both organic and dry-farmed, they deliver ripe yellow fruit bolstered by crisp linear acids.

— Jim Prosser, owner/winemaker