AN UPDATE FROM OUR WINEMAKING TEAM

January pruning marks the beginning of the growing season, and so far, this has been an ideal winter. Cold, relatively dry weather means that our vines can experience a full dormancy and recharge fully for the first vintage of the new decade.

Our teams prune using a method called cane pruning. This means making fewer cuts to the vine - a strategy often used in wetter climates where fungus can be a threat. We select one cane which will generate the fruiting shoots and one renewal spur. This method is employed in our Burgundian vineyards as well, where cane pruning offers excellent frost protection and evenly spaced shoots, beneficial for canopy management in the Spring.

With Spring in our sights comes the first bottling of the season. Our MV 'r' Rosé v.XII is now officially in bottle and will soon be ready for release. Mark your calendars for Valentine's Day weekend where we pay tribute to this highly acclaimed Oregon Rosé, now in its twelfth year of release.

Additionally, we wanted to let you know that we have tasted the first of our 2017 Pinot Noirs - they are truly everything we had hoped. This elegant vintage will be notable for its bright acidity and purity, but also for complexity and depth built through extended maceration and time in barrel. Truly a remarkable vintage, we cannot wait to share the first releases with you this spring. And finally, with these new releases will come the first of our impressive 2018 single-vineyard Chardonnays. Our members will love the compelling and complex new wines from the acclaimed Côte Sud and Etoile vineyards on the Evenstad Estate.

Membership is the only way to guarantee access to many of these new releases - some see such small production each year that only our Gold Eagle and Cellar Society members have access. Cheers to an amazing 2020!