Evening Land Vineyards, Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2023

The Chardonnay in this cuvée is from 100% estate grown grapes. The juice is fermented in a combination of barriques and puncheons, left sur lie for 11 months, and finished in stainless steel for 5 months before bottling.

Clean, bright nose that speaks to the lesser known mineral and floral side of Chardonnay with Anjou pear, wet stone, Parmesan rind and white flowers. Snappy clover and fresh, green fruit of honeydew and pear on the palate.

This is the inaugural vintage for the Evening Land Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay. Since the first vines were planted at Seven Springs in 1984 there has always been Chardonnay grown here. Dominque Lafon, the estate's consulting winemaker thru 2015, recognized immediately the serious potential for Chardonnay in the cooler microclimates of the higher elevation, east-facing slopes of the Eola-Amity Hills.

The grapes' naturally late bud break, and sunlit-drenched summers, endow the wine with bracing acidity.