2018 Merlot
Tart raspberry and toffee flavors combine with other bramble fruits on a base of black tea tannins and finishing with spicy whole cardamon.
We picked all at 23.5° brix, destemmed and allowed the grapes to wild ferment in bins at 65° for 3 days, then inoculated with a yeast for another 7 days. We gently pressed the skins and transferred to medium toast French oak barrels to barrel age for 3-1/2 years.
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Varietal | Merlot |
| Appellation | Columbia Gorge |
| Vineyard | Lonnie Wright Vineyard |
| Acid | 6.4 |
| PH | 3.90 |
| Aging | French Oak Barrels |
| Residual Sugar | <.01 |
| Alcohol | 15.40% |
| Wine Style | Bordeaux |
| Volume | 750 ml |
| Bottling Date | 06/24/2022 |
| Cases Produced | 215 |
| Country of Origin | UNITED STATES |
| State of Origin | Oregon |
2021 American Fine Wine Competition Double Gold 93 Points
2020 American Fine Wine Competition Silver 88 Points
2019 San Francisco Chronical Wine Awards Silver
2019 Sunset International Wine Competition Bronze
March, and April of 2018 showed no precipitation and warm climate from 67-86°then spiking to 98° in May and into very hot temperatures of 107° and 105° for June and July. Cool mornings and less than average rainfall for this year. This vineyard produced very lovely medium sized fruit with medium garnet-colored clusters as this berry produced a rich brown seed and the white flesh Columbia Gorge Merlot is known for. We picked all at 23.5° brix, destemmed and allowed the grapes to wild ferment in bins at 65° for 3 days, then inoculated with a yeast for another 7 days. We gently pressed the skins and transferred to medium toast French oak barrels to barrel age for 3-1/2 years.
Tess Barr is one of the less than 10% of lead women winemakers nationwide and proud to be part of the Woman Winemaker Project. A patented formulator, and decorated with 35 issued US Patents, Ms. Barr has filed over 100 inventions at the USPTO.
