Our tasting impressions
Kudos to Vincent for creating a late-bottled rendition of this over-exposed variety that is capable of greatness when not subject to mass over-production. This wine is a textural revelation! It manages to simultaneously give an impression of both crunchiness (thanks to extended lees time) and creaminess (malolactic fermentation). I won’t even try to describe the flavors. Let’s just say it’s a cornucopia and with maximal deliciosity. This wine (and the light red version he makes) are a strong indicator of Vincent’s winemaking independent spirit.
About this wine
Vincent's first vintage of white Pinot Gris (he produces a light red from this grape). He ferments it like a white wine - in barrel, aged on lees and allowing malolactic fermentation to occur. The result is a dry, textural but still fresh and focused Pinot Gris in the style of Pinot Beurot, the Burgundian name for the grape. The “Tardive” designation refers to longer lees aging before bottling “late” compared to the earlier bottled red Gris. It is essentially a reserve wine.
The grapes are from vines planted in silty loess soil at Dion Vineyard in the Laurelwood District AVA of the Chehalem Mountains. It’s owned by Kevin Johnson and Beth Klingner. Vincent works with own-rooted vines planted around 1988.
Whole clusters are pressed and settled for two days, then racked into older French oak barrels. Native yeast is introduced and malolactic fermentations occur. He does no racking or stirring during elevage. The wine ages 18 months before bottling without fining or filtration. Only minimum effective SO2 used. A mere 75 cases were made.
About the Grape
Pinot Gris is uncommon in that its name often differs depending on where it is grown - and it grows in many European countries, as well as in the new world. It mutated from Pinot Noir and developed a pink skin. They grow in small bunches. It's not high in acidity so picking at the best time is critical. So much Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio) is used to make innocuous wine but at its best, it can rival any of the great white wines.
Vincent's Vintage Report
In short - a special year that gave concentrated, age worthy wines across the board. Spring came in very slowly with late snows in the Willamette Valley and then spring rains that kept the vines from budding until later April, a week or two later than usual. Then in May, we had weather more like July, and by early June the vines had more than caught up and were ready to flower, a week or two EARLIER than usual. It was the shortest time from bud break to flowering that I've seen. Weather was favorable in early June at flowering, which is when the fruit sets and begins to grow. Dry, still weather gave us a nice healthy crop. Summer weather was warmer than usual but not blistering, just nice, consistent conditions that made for low disease pressure. After August, weather remained warm. Conditions were glorious and fermentations smelled incredible across the board. I wish all harvests could be as textbook as 2023 was. Stylistically, the wines remind me a bit of 2018, ripe but well structured and cohesive.
Vincent Wine Company and its owner/winemaker, Vincent Fritzsche are, in so many ways, a natural fit in the VDLT portfolio:
Perhaps the only departure from our usual suspects is that there is a group of wine cognoscenti who have discovered Vincent...in a big way. There's not a ton of press about him but in specific circles, he has achieved superstar status. As a result, his wines are distributed more extensively than many other VDLT partners.
What started as a hobby/sidebar in 2009, blossomed into a real Willamette Valley business 6 years later. He moved into a new cellar in Amity recently and had space to welcome in his friend Saul Mutchnick of Championship Bottle (one-stop shopping for VDLT visits).
While his wines are natural-ish, he is not looking to make natural wines. He uses the minimum effective sulfur, so the wines are stable. If you want to learn how to identify grapes in blind tasting, practice with Vincent's wine. Their transparency and purity are palpable.
Two of Vincent's wines are bottled with a different brand name - Fritzsche. They are both Cabernet Sauvignon, which he purchases from an elite Napa Valley vineyard and bottles in Oregon.
We are delighted and excited to climb onto Vincent's bandwagon. We also are entirely confident that once you taste the wines, you will understand and embrace the buzz.
