The work is many faceted, yet transparent. They maintain absolute respect for the individual site, and are attentive and sensitive to the responses of the vines to their environment throughout the growing season. They carry the impressions of that sensitivity into the cellar during harvest, allowing them and past impressions to dictate our responses to the fruit itself, its fermentation, and the resultant wine.
Leaning on winemaker Andrew Riechers’ relationships with farmers and vineyard owners throughout the valley, a small brand was formed around a handful of rows, in a few of the most challenging and compelling vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley. Whether older own rooted vines, or unirrigated and organically farmed at high elevation, they believe the margins are where place and time are reflected most beautifully.
After moving from Eugene, Oregon where he grew up, Andrew learned to love cellar work in Santa Barbara assisting in the production of bulk wines in a large facility. He quickly realized that there was much more connected and lovely work out there in the wine world, and he was hired as the cellar master at Summerland Winery. He then moved along to be the first employee at Sanguis, where his idealistic bent toward the craft of winemaking was cultivated. After four years in California, Oregon called him home where he assisted Jim Prosser at JK Carriere Wines for two years. The following year was divided between Ted Lemon’s project in New Zealand, Burn Cottage, and Burgundy in the Haute Cote working for Claire Naudin at Domaine Naudin Ferrand. Finally, he spent five years as the assistant winemaker at Antica Terra and Lillian with Maggie Harrison prior to joining and founding Audeant Wines with Proprietor, Teal Walker, in 2016.