2023 Granville - Willamette Valley Basalt Sparkling (750ml)

Granville Wine Co. is best known for Dundee Hills Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but Jackson and Ayla Holstein have also become respected for traditional-method sparkling wine. They are among a group of Willamette Valley producers making bubbly with little or no added sugar. Jackson believes the higher basalt slopes of the Dundee and Eola-Amity Hills develop more flavor in the grapes. Because the fruit is so flavorful, he can leave out nearly all the residual sugar without making the wine taste austere.

The Basalt Sparkling is mostly Chardonnay, with a small amount of Pinot Noir for roundness. The grapes come from organically farmed vineyards on volcanic basalt soils, some as high as 1,000 feet. The grapes are pressed gently on a traditional Champagne cycle to protect their delicate aromas and natural acidity. The base wine ferments and ages in a mix of neutral French oak barrels and stainless steel, with partial malolactic fermentation for complexity. The wine then rests on its lees in bottle for about two years before disgorgement. It’s finished as a Brut Nature with less than one gram per liter of dosage and is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Expect ripe yellow apple, freshly cut pear and dried white flowers, with a fine mineral tension and a dry, clean finish. Serve it with oysters, fried chicken or aged hard cheeses.