Ovum Aligote, 2023

The 2023 Ovum Aligote smells like clean ocean air. You can almost feel the cold waters of the Umpqua River flowing through the wine. This is a texture- and palate-riven wine, at once lighter than air and richer than grass-fed butter at the same time. Hints of blueberry and green fig are hidden in the salty depths if you smell close enough.

Less than 30 miles from the Pacific, the Umpqua bends into the town of Elkton. The coastal mountain influence is an ideal climate for white wines of exceptional acidity such as this. Clay-loam soils sit atop a thick slab of sandstone. This soil combined with the alpine river valley microclimate to yield an Aligote of measured ripeness.

Bunches were pressed whole cluster. After settling overnight the juice was racked off heavy lees into 10 hL Austrian oak casks. This wine aged on lees for ten months, undergoing full malolcatic. Nothing added except sulfur dioxide.