Division Winemaking Company Announces Fall Wine Releases and Two New Wine Clubs

PORTLAND, Ore. (October 21, 2019) – Division Winemaking Company’s (DWC) founders Kate Norris and Tom Monroe release nine new stellar selections this fall, perfect for the upcoming holiday season. Well known for their production of lesser-known wine varietals, DWC has become an ambassador for the new generation of Oregon produced wines and serves as a guide to exciting upcoming wines such as Gamay Noir, Chenin Blanc, and Old World style rosés. This release sees the new-vintage return of the DWC big three: 2018 Pinot Noir “Un”, 2018 Chardonnay “Un” and 2018 Gamay “Lutte”. DWC will also release the brand new 2018 “l’Orange”(Skin Contact White Wine) as well as three stunning single-vineyard wines: 2018 Chenin Blanc “Inondé”, 2018 Pinot Noir “Deux” Eola Springs Vineyard, 2018 Gamay “Cru” Methven Family Vineyard. Also included are two incredible wines from winemaker Kate Norris’ solo wine project Gamine – now in its 6th vintage. Under the Gamine label, Norris will release a 2018 Gamine Aligoté and 2018 Gamine Grenache Pétillant Naturel (Pét-Nat).

This fall, DWC adds two new and distinct wine clubs to their exciting line up of membership options. Each provides the Division fan a unique opportunity to explore the great variety of DWC wines in their own way, from a new streamlined alternative to the first ever wine club for the Gamay obsessed. Division Wine Club memberships get you exclusive access to, as well as discounts on, other DWC wine. Wine Club perks also include access to rare bottlings, library releases, complimentary flights at Southeast Wine Collective, fixed rate shipping, exclusive tasting opportunities in Portland and farther afield! For more information visit https://www.divisionwineco.com/. In addition to the wine clubs, DWC’s “Les Uns” holiday three pack makes for a great gift, available for purchase online beginning in November.

Division Winemaking Co.’s “Les Uns” Holiday Pack

In our opinion, you could not have asked for a better growing season than during the 2018 vintage. In July and early August, a long stretch of dry and hot weather helped the vines grow, but the heat wave broke right before véraison, giving the grapes milder daytime temperatures and cool nights to promote flavor development and preserve the bright acidity that we love. Rainfall was also ideal, where there was enough hydration to keep these dry-farmed vineyards hydrated without sacrificing concentration. That weather held through harvest, and as a result the fruit was some of the best we’ve seen in years.

Our 2018 Chardonnay “Un” is a cuvée of three of our favorite Chardonnay sites in the Willamette Valley. Two thirds of the fruit comes from the biodynamically farmed Johan Vineyards, located in the Van Duzer AVA, a new Willamette Valley AVA named after the Van Duzer Corridor, a break in the Coast Range that provides a cooling maritime influence that preserves acidity. Rounding out the cuvée are Eola Springs Vineyard, including some old vine Mendoza clone Chardonnay, and Cassin Family Vineyards, one of our youngest, but most promising sites.

In order to help the wine ferment via the grapes’ indigenous yeasts, we prepare a pied de cuve to help kickstart the primary fermentation. We use this method on many of our sites, as it creates gorgeously complex wines that do not struggle to complete their primary fermentation. The fermentations were long and cool in a mix of stainless steel, new Austrian oak, neutral French oak Burgundy barrels, as well as one newer French “Aquaflex” barrel, a water bent barrel designed to restrain oak flavor impact without losing valuable tannin and numerous compounds that enhance structure and elegance. The wines completed the secondary malolactic fermentation by early summer of 2019.

The 2018 Chardonnay “Un” strikes an incredible balance, with brightness and lift on the palate to match the richness from the fermentation in oak. Fresh cut grass and matchstick like flint combine with crisp green apple, a touch of grapefruit rind, and brioche straight from the oven for a bright Chardonnay that will satisfy even the biggest of Chardonnay skeptics.

Alc 12.8%, pH 3.24, 285 Cases Produced

The 2018 growing season turned out to be one of the best yet in Columbia Valley. After some very hot stretches in July and early August, things cooled off quickly and by September, the days were in the 70s and evenings in the high 30s. The huge diurnal swing allowed for acid preservation and a long hang time to develop phenolic flavors without a large pickup in sugars – a real treat vintage for acid hounds like us!

We source our Chenin Blanc from Willard Farms, an old vine Chenin site in the Yakima Valley. These high-elevation, own-rooted Chenin vines are over 40 years old, all of  which helps insulate the vines from year to year climate variations. The soil is formed of volcanic Miocene uplift against basalt bedrock with the primary topsoil being made up of quartz and lime silica, overlaid with the mixed glacial sedimentary runoff of Missoula floods for a dynamic and unique terroir. We adore this particular site: there isn’t much old vine Chenin Blanc left and the site is farmed by an excellent, albeit quirky, farmer named Jim Willard who has a deep understanding of the soils and region.

Taking a page from the books of some of our favorite domaines of the Loire Valley, we make multiple picking passes (typically two in the year) to pick both vibrant and lively earlier acid driven grapes, and the more fruit concentrated and complex flavored later picked grapes. During the past three growing seasons, we have worked extensively with the shoot positioning and yield and canopy management to improve Chenin’s notorious variability in ripeness. The cumulative results have been clearly beneficial with our most even and healthy harvest yet in 2018.

We create a pied de cuve (early native ferment) with a small amount of grapes from the vineyard to build a strong yeast population from the native flora.  Indondé is dominated by the first pick, prssed into stainless steel and one barrique. The second pick juice was split between the heart of the press, which went directly into a stainless barrel and the rest being split into mostly neutral and one year old French oak barrels. The ferments took off quickly this year and completed quite quickly going completely dry.

With a slightly neutral nose, save for some preserved lemon zing, this is a wine defined by power and grace on the palate. Classic lanolin and candied orange blossom florality play with a subtle salty caramel roundness balance the acidity to make this a wine that drinks as well now as it will in five to ten years.

Alc 13.7% pH 3.44 105 cases produced

In our opinion, you could not have asked for a better growing season than during the 2018 vintage. In July and early August, a long stretch of dry and hot weather helped the vines grow, but the heat wave broke right before véraison, giving the grapes milder daytime temperatures and cool nights to promote flavor development and preserve the bright acidity that we love. Rainfall was also ideal, where there was enough hydration to keep these dry-farmed vineyards hydrated without sacrificing concentration. That weather held through harvest, and as a result the fruit was some of the best we’ve seen in years.

We love Gamay! Division has long been a champion of Gamay from the Willamette Valley. We work with a number of different Gamay sites across Oregon, but Methven Family Vineyards is a special site for us, as it was the site of our first Gamay Noir harvest back in 2011. Today, nearly a decade later, it’s still our largest and most important Gamay vineyard in Oregon and we believe our long experience with Methven makes our Gamay Noir “Cru”, a single-vineyard bottling of Methven fruit, one of our most intricate Gamay wines.

Our Methven Vineyard Gamay was fermented in traditional open-top fermenters, but a heavy use of full cluster fermentation provides a double whammy of a touch of carbonic masceration with tannin and herbaceousness from the stems. After primary fermentation, the wine was aged in neutral barriques and puncheons. Unfined and unfiltered, it only received two small sulfur additions, after malolactic fermentation and just before bottling.

The 2018 Gamay “Cru” is a wine of power and elegance – a prime example of the potential of Willamette Valley Gamay. A mushroomy gameiness comibines with iron-like minerality to create a wine with serious structure. Cranberry, Strawberry and pie cherry combine on the palate to offset the savoriness, and on the nose a heavy dose of black and white pepper – something we’ve learned to be a calling card for Methven Vineyard gamay.

Alc 13.6% pH 3.58 110 cases produced

In our opinion, you could not have asked for a better growing season than during the 2018 vintage. In July and early August, a long stretch of dry and hot weather helped the vines grow, but the heat wave broke right before véraison, giving the grapes milder daytime temperatures and cool nights to promote flavor development and preserve the bright acidity that we love. Rainfall was also ideal, where there was enough hydration to keep these dry-farmed vineyards hydrated without sacrificing concentration. That weather held through harvest, and the resulting fruit was some of the best we’ve seen in years.

2018 marks the second year of “Lutte”, our Willamette Valley AVA Blend of Gamay Noir. “ We believe that “Lutte” fits perfectly with our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay “Un” Bottlings — serious wines that are still approachable and enjoyable. The name of this cuvée, “Lutte”, is a french word that means “fight to overcome”, alluding to the struggles of Gamay Noir in France to be understood as a serious wine of character, as well as our early struggles in promoting Gamay Noir in the land of Pinot Noir.

The “Lutte” bottling of Gamay is crafted to be a step up in structure, finesse and longevity to our more fruity and carbonic influenced Division-Villages “Les Petits Fers”, and as such we select plots from our best Willamette Valley Gamay sites to make this cuvée. The minerally intense Gamay from Methven Family Vineyards has clearly stood out to us over the years and so it made perfect sense to anchor the “Lutte” with the younger Gamay vines grafted over from Pinot Noir there in 2016. To complete the wine, we blended in components from the original 1993 Biodynamically farmed block from Brick House Vineyard in the Ribbon Ridge and a bit each from Eola-Amity Hills neighbors Redford Wetle Vineyard and Bjornson Vineyard. Each of these lots were fermented with a semi-carbonic approach, which allows some structure, but still keeps the juiciness and red fruit characteristics.

The 2018 Gamay Noir “Lutte” is very much a forward progression from the first vintage of this bottling from 2017. We learned a lot about the young grafted block from Methven for a drinkable Gamay that balances fruit and funk like the best of Brouilly or Morgon. Spicy, plush, floral, and bright, the 2018 “Lutte” has an enjoyable pininess with more herbaceousness from clove and dried orange peel. Lutte also has a lovely gaminess reminiscent of sugar cured meats Despite a bit of mid-palate weight, “Lutte” is airy and light on the finish, a combination we greatly enjoy!

Alc 13.1% pH 3.72 300 cases produced

Over the past several years, we’ve experimented with various approaches to skin fermented white wines, looking to create a bottling that focuses on our favorite aspects of a style generally referred to as “Orange Wine”. We are thrilled to present our first skin-contact white wine for wider release! L’Orange features a blend of some of white grapes from some of our favorite sites, and we think we’ve really struck gold (or struck orange!) with this approachable orange wine. This is definitely an orange wine that you will want by the bottle – not just a taste!

Capturing complex colors, textures, and aromatics deliciously was the main goal, and our 2018 L’Orange demonstrates the beautiful harmony we were seeking through this blend of grapes, resulting from two different co-ferments that were macerated on their skins for up to three weeks. The fermentations occurred in open top barrels, and there was only one small sulfur addition at bottling. The wine is unfined and unfiltered.

Along with notes of gardenia and tangerine peel, we can’t help but notice a touch of eucalyptus in the wine, connecting it to our friend and Portland-based artist Camille Shuman’s “Eucs”. “Eucs” is a piece that we find beautifully reflects the synthesis of this extended skin contact white wine that we just had to feature it on the label!

Alc 13.0% 73 cases produced

The Willamette Valley is a perfect match for Pinot Noir, a variety that seems to show its best on the fringes of suitable grape farming area. The 2018 vintage turned out to be a truly stellar year for making wines. After a long dry and hot stretch in July and early August, the heat broke at just the right time when veraison was occurring and the temperatures were mild during the day and cool at night, with just the right amount of rain to keep the vines hydrated, all the way through harvest, from mid-September to early October.

We believe that Eola Springs Vineyard, Division’s very first vineyard, and the single-vineyard source of our Pinot Noir “Deux”, is one of the best vineyards for Pinot Noir anywhere in the U.S. What makes Eola Springs special to us is not just its place in our history, but its place in the Willamette Valley’s wine growing history. Eola Springs was originally planted in 1972 to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Muscat. The Cabernet Sauvignon is long gone, but the Farmhouse block, consisting of Pinot Noir planted between 1980 and 1990 on its own roots is the focus of our Pinot Noir “Deux”. We are smitten for this site and the resulting wines every year, but it is also bittersweet. While the wine quality has benefited significantly in the past three years from Eola Springs conversion to Biodynamically principled farming, the steady march of Phylloxera has really begun to affect yields and farming costs to the point where some of these historic old vines will need to be pulled in the upcoming years.

The majority of our 2018 Pinot Noir “Deux” was fermented 50% whole cluster, with the three other smaller ferments experiencing differing levels of whole cluster to promote complexity of flavor. Cap management favored gentle pigeage with a few light pump-overs to help along the primary fermentation. After primary fermentation the wine was aged in neutral and new French oak barriques and puncheons. Unfiltered and unfined with only two small sulfur additions.

This is a brooding Pinot Noir that balances darker plum and blackberry fruit with a salty umami character that reads like japanese nori or kombu. Ample allspice rounds out the palate, and the lush tannin acidity combine to for a concentrated and cellarable Pinot Noir that is supremely enjoyable to drink.

Alc 13.8%, pH 3.68, 99 cases produced

The Willamette Valley is a perfect match for Pinot Noir, a variety that seems to show its best on the fringes of suitable grape farming area. The 2018 vintage turned out to be a truly stellar year for making wines. After a long dry and hot stretch in July and early August, the heat broke at just the right time when veraison was occurring and the temperatures were mild during the day and cool at night, with just the right amount of rain to keep the vines hydrated, all the way through harvest, from mid-September to early October.

As in years past, we approach the Division Pinot Noir “Un” cuvee, our only Division Pinot Noir featuring multiple vineyard sites, as our opportunity to make a vintage character cuvée in our lighter, finesse driven style that is designed to perform well above its price point. Our vineyard roster in 2018 experienced just a few notable changes, most notably with the growing presence of the Biodynamically farmed Johan Vineyards and the introduction of our young, but hugely promising vines from Cassin Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. All but one of our vineyards included in the “Un” cuvee is organically, LIVE Certified and/or Biodynamically farmed. Our oldest vines, the Eola Springs Vineyard, has transitioned to Biodynamic and organic principled farming (save for phylloxera treatment in the old vines).

All lots were fermented either spontaneously or via a pied de cuve. We utilized varying techniques, including whole cluster fermentation in some of the Cassin, Bjornson, Eola-Springs and Armstrong ferments and an all whole cluster semi-carbonic fermentation with one each of the Johan and Cassin ferments – as to provide more spice, nuance and nerve in the wine. Our significant experience working with minimal manipulation techniques, including gentle foot pigeage for many of the ferments in the cellar truly shines through in this wine. We aged the wine in mostly French oak and a small amount of Austrian Oak, approximately 15% in new barrels and puncheons, for 9 months before being racked to concrete tanks for about one month before bottling. This was a new step for us with this vintage as we’ve testing the idea out for a few years as a method to help coalesce the wine more before it’s bottled. We made only two very small sulfite additions during the Spring and again just before bottling.

Our 2018 Pinot Noir “Un” gives generous huckleberry fruit on the nose andpalate, matching the darker fruit flavors with brambliness and acidity. Heaps of wet slate, allspice, and a sweet praline nuttiness round out the wine for a savory finish that somehow manages to be dense and airy. For a base level Pinot Noir, it packs serious punch and complexity – this is not a wine to be missed!

Alc 13.6%, pH 3.62, 980 cases produced.

Kate’s personal wine project, Gamine Wines, now in its 6th vintage, celebrates the wines that both her and her mother, Sylviane, love to drink. Kate’s Gamine Wines highlight unsung varieties and styles from all across France, and they are stellar examples of the diversity of wines being made in the Pacific Northwest.

2018 marks the second vintage of Kate’s Aligoté. Haling from the Jory soils of Elkton Oregon, Vintage Family Farm is a relatively new site, with the Aligoté vines in their fourth leaf. The Elkton Oregon AVA is a newer sub-appellation of the Umpqua AVA. The Umpqua Valley at its is more known for warmer climate grape growing than the Willamette Valley, more similar to the Middle Rhône or perhaps the Languedoc-Roussillon regions of France. However, the Elkton Oregon AVA lies a mere 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean, nestled in the foothills of the Coast Range and this special sub-appellation is typically cooler than the more famous Willamette Valley cool climate region further to the North.

Winemaking for this years Aligoté was very traditional. After pressing, the grapes settled and were fermented spontaneously on the lees in neutral and stainless steel barrels. The wine stayed on its lees for eight months before being bottled without fining or filtration and just a touch of sulfur.

The 2018 Gamine Aligoté is electric, with lively green pear and crisp quince, subtle honey suckle sweetness, all on top of a a base note of mixed melons which bring a touch of roundness to this energetic wine.

Alc 12.8% 75 Cases produced.

Kate’s personal wine project, Gamine Wines, now in its 6th vintage, celebrates the wines that both her and her mother, Sylviane, love to drink. Kate’s Gamine Wines highlight unsung varieties and styles from all across France, and they are stellar examples of the diversity of wines being made in the Pacific Northwest.

After a year’s absence, we are thrilled at the return of Kate’s lovely, fresh and approachable ancestral-style bubbles, balancing florality and fruit with vivacity and charm. This year’s Gamine Pétillant is a hazy sparkler that truly glows in the glass. We get huge Peach Bellini vibes from this low-ABV pét-nat. This wine is a perfect aperitif or brunch wine — pop a crown cap and see why!

Kate partners with grower Herb Quady on her Grenache Pétillant, with the fruit coming from the Mae’s Vineyard block-. Herb grew up in the family of the famed Quady Winery in California’s Central Valley, and later became the vineyard manager for Randall Graham’s Bonny Doon wine empire, before coming north to southern Oregon with his sights on applying organic farming techniques to a region with mostly undiscovered vineyard potential. His Mae’s Vineyard block slopes southeast into the Applegate Valley in what can only be said as one of the prettiest spots we’ve seen in the state. Loamy/clay and marine sediment overlay sits on top of a large granite slab (yes granite!), which makes this a truly distinctive site to work with.

The grapes were pressed after 6 hours on the skins and settled before primary fermentation in a 1000L stainless vat. The juice spontaneously fermented from its indigenous yeasts. After the majority of the sugars fermented happily,  the temperature control jacket on the tank was turned on to chill and slow the ferment, stopping it at about .5 Brix. It was held there for 2 months before being bottled and primary fermentation naturally restarted. The wine remained in tirage for 8 months and was lightly disgorged in August 2019 with no dosage or sulfur additions.

On the nose the 2018 Gamine Pétillant reminds us of a glazed apricot tart made using the freshest and brightest peak-season apricots. A subtle fennel pollen herbaceousness adds complexity to the nose while on the palate the wine is minerally driven to balance out the generous orchard fruit carried over from the nose.

Alc 12.0%  97 cases produced.

“Pair with good times, good food and good people” is the philosophy of the Division Winemaking Company, founded in 2010 by winemakers Kate Norris and Thomas Monroe. Inspired by the wineries of Loire, Burgundy and the Northern Rhone, the pioneering urban winery creates sustainable and unique varietals of minimalist approach Oregon wines including Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay, Rosé, Chenin, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Cot, Syrah, and Grenache. Division Winemaking Company (DWC) includes the Division Winemaking Company label, the more approachable Division-Villages label and as well as Gamine, inspired by the Rhone Valley and a personal expression of co-founder Kate Norris’ love of the region. Norris and Monroe have been leaders in pursuing the Oregon-Loire Valley confluence, cultivating grapes that are native to the French winemaking region known for Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Gamay. From their minimal intervention approach, focusing on terroir and true varietal expression over more industrialized techniques, to their promotion of unique varietals through pioneering campaigns like #DrinkChenin and I Love Gamay, their award winning wines serve as an example for sustainable production and connection between the old world experience and applying it in a new world environment. In 2018, DWC was named to the Independent’s 14 Best Oregon Pinot Noir wines. In 2017, the New York Times named Division’s Gamay Noir a “wonderful” gamay in its Oregon Trail story. Portland Monthly named Division’s 2016 L’Isle Verte Chenin Blanc to its 50 Oregon Wines. In 2016, Norris and Monroe were named to Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 tastemakers list. The winemakers have been profiled by Willamette Week, and named in the San Francisco Chronicle’s article All You Wanted to Know About This Year’s Winemakers to Watch. DWC has been named an Oregon Winery to Watch by Wine Press Northwest, a top urban winery by Wine Enthusiast, and their wines have been featured in the New York Times by Eric Asimov as Wines for Thanksgiving the Refresh the Palate and Willamette Valley’s excellent small producers. Their 2011 Gamay Noir was the only wine from the United States to win a gold medal at the 2014 International Competition of Gamay in France. Find more information at https://www.divisionwineco.com/ on Facebook Division Wine Co, Twitter @divisionwineco or by calling 503-208-2061.