Winemaker Notes
Our founding winemaker, Rollin Soles, came to the Willamette Valley in the 1980’s to make this wine. It is the foundation on which everything at Argyle is made.
Food Pairing Notes
All Argyle Sparkling Wines are 100% Argyle Grown, vintage-dated, made from hand-picked, cold-pressed grapes, bottle fermented, aged on the yeast for a minimum of 3 years and 'disgorged on demand.'
Vineyard Notes
The 2017 growing season began with a relatively cool and wet spring in comparison to 2014-2016, leading to more normal timing of bud break at the end of April. May was fairly cool with a few blips of heat which lead to a moderately later bloom in mid to late June, depending on elevation. Both cluster size and quantity was larger than 2016 so heavy crop-thinning was in order to produce balanced wines. August was very warm but turned cool in September, which allowed the fruit to hang and gain aromatic complexity. Harvest started with Chardonnay at Lone Star Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills on September 8th and finished with Pinot Noir in the upper elevations of the Eola-Amity Hills at Spirit Hill Vineyard on October 14th.
Accolades
Wine Spectator, 90 Points: “Sleek and steely, with elegantly expressive lemon and lime flavors that take on mineral and fresh ginger notes on the way toward a vibrant finish. Drink now.” — T.F., November 2021 |
Great Northwest Wine, 94 Points: “Part of its Grower Series, this methode Champenoise by Argyle winemaker Nate Klostermann continues to set the standard for Northwest sparkling wine in terms of its style, scale and execution. It’s a blend of Chardonnay (55%), Pinot Noir (30%) and Pinot Meunier from two sites — nearby Knudsen Vineyard in the Dundee Hills and Argyle’s estate Spirit Hill Vineyard in the cooler Eola-Amity Hills. The voluptuous bubbles release an early sense of the Chardonnay with the stone fruit, lemony and baked bread approach. Those notes are joined by light cherry as there’s a teasingly light sweetness for your chase toward the finish of minerality and acidity that’s beveled by a slice of dried apricot.”
