Adelsheim Chardonnay 2007 Wine Review; Willamette Valley, Oregon
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010A Willamette Valley Oregon Chardonnay Surprise!
While the California Chardonnays might have the captured main stream Americas attention, Oregon’s Willamette Valley has a nice surprise in store for wine drinkers. With Chardonnay clones directly from Burgundy we find this to be an excitingly rich Chardonnay with next to no oak influence at all.
The History of Chardonnay in Oregon’s Willamette Valley
Adelsheim co-founder, David Adelsheim, noticed while working in Burgundy back in 1974 that the Chardonnay grapes in Burgundy ripened at the same time as Pinot Noir grapes while in the States the Chardonnay in Oregon which came from several California selections ripened 2-3 weeks later. This motivated him to assist with the difficult process of mandatory quarantine and such to bring the Chardonnay “Dijon” clones directly from Burgundy. The bonus to that move was that the Dijon Clones have fewer and smaller grape clusters, and thus are a better match for Oregon’s long, cool growing season.
