Winemaker Notes
Lone Star Vineyard is lower elevation in close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor in the Eola-Amity Hills with ideal conditions for Riesling to thrive. Argyle is the only US winery to grow Riesling on devigorated rootstocks. This is the type of viticultural investment that most US wineries would only consider for higher priced wines like Pinot Noir.
Food Pairing Notes
Nuthouse Riesling is 100% Argyle grown from cutting edge German Clones. This is Argyle’s most exacting, drier-style Riesling with racy acidity and a light fruit-sweetness that will intensify with age. We believe it is the Willamette Valley’s most age-worthy Riesling.
Vineyard Notes
The 2018 growing season began with a relatively mild and dry winter and moderately cool spring, leading to bud break during the second and third weeks of April. Temperatures picked up in May and continued into a beautiful mid-June bloom. The rest of the summer continued to be warm and very dry, with no precipitation for nearly 3 months. Early September remained warm and dry through the beginning of the sparkling harvest, but then cooled down with a few days of precipitation in the middle of the month. This allowed for still wine ripening (and the cellar crew!) to slow down and catch their breath before finishing out with beautiful late September and early October weather. In all, the 2018 harvest was very condensed, having started with Chardonnay at the lower elevations of Lone Star Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills on September 4th and finishing with Pinot Noir in the upper elevations of the Eola-Amity Hills at Spirit Hill Vineyard on October 2nd.
Accolades
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast: “Flavors of ripe golden apples and nectarines, with a defining lick of pink grapefruit, set up this palate-perfect old-vine Riesling. At 12 g/l residual sugar it is still basically dry, but rounded off a bit. There is certainly the potential to age this, but the fresh fruit is awfully compelling. It finishes with a hint of bubblegum.” —Paul Gregutt, October 2020
