Portland Wine Company, Willamette Valley (Oregon) Riesling 2016

 The grapes for this wine come from the Sunnyside Vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  According to Matt Berson, co-owner of Portland Wine Company, the 50 year-old self-rooted vines are lovingly tended by the owners who live on the property.  This is one of the most impressive and intriguing Rieslings I have tasted.  It has a pale golden color and floral, peach, pear, and mineral aromas, followed by ripe, round peach, pear, and apple fruit flavors.  It is voluptuous, almost chewy at first, then crisp acidity kicks in.  The finish is dry and textured.  The mouthfeel is intense.  I wondered if the texture came from skin contact with the juice.  Turns out that when the grapes arrive at the winery, the winemaking team foot treads the grapes in half-ton bins until the juice is running.  Then they transfer the grapes and juice into the press, so there is some skin contact.  Berson thinks that the biggest contributor to the mouthfeel is the low and slow fermentation.   He ferments the juice in a giant walk-in cooler at 54-56 degrees for up to 5 months until fully fermented.  The slow fermentation keeps the fine lees, the dead yeast cells, suspended in solution, gently stirring them through the wine on the currents of CO¬2 produced by the yeast.  This results in added density in the final wine.  “A happy and unexpected side-effect of this method is a lovely gracefully smooth mouthfeel.”  Indeed.