Bird Box Menu September 5th

Pinot Blanc — Biggio Hamina Cellars  — ’12 Willamette Valley, OR, $32
Todd Hamina left his job working for a wine distributor and drove his Volvo out to Oregon to take a job as a vineyard hand in the Willamette Valley in 1996. Since then he went on to work in various capacities for Beaux Freres, Archery Summit, Elk Cove, Patton Valley and Maysara. He started his own project in 2007, he employed native yeast fermentation, never filters, and used very little new oak. We use the past tense, as the winery has ceased production, but we still know Todd, and he pulled this gem out of the cellar for us. You read it right, 2012, and still fresh as a daisy, but with an incredible textural element and secondary notes hinting at honeycomb that balances the citrusy notes and bright acidity.  The fruit for this wine comes from St. Columbian vineyard outside of Champueg. He let the fruit sit for 24 hours before de-stemming or fermentation which allows some of the tannin to leech from the skins into the berries. The wine rested in barrel on its own lees without battonage. These two factors give the wine great texture to match its spicy, savory, aromatics.

Pinot Noir – Dundee Hills Cuvée—Crowley Wines  —  2018 Dundee Hills, OR, $36
Tyson Crowley founded his eponymous winery in 2005 after working for other producers in the Willamette Valley including John Paul of Cameron. Crowley produces some of the most elegant, textural, and pure Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Valley. He prefers cooler higher-elevation vineyards that are conducive to lower alcohol wines with more vibrancy. Tyson also believes in the importance of patiently cellaring the wines in barrel before bottling. The Dundee Hills cuvée is aged 18 months in neutral oak in their cool moist cellars north of Newberg. This wine expresses lovely fruit and spice, and seamless texture.