Seven Springs was originally planted in 1983 on an east facing slope in the Eola-Amity Hills. Over the years it has produced some of Oregon’s most iconic wines in the deft hands of a great lineage of stewards, currently Sashi Moorman and Raj Parr of Evening Land. It is farmed biodynamicaly without irrigation by Jessica Cortell. They are grateful to work with one half acre of Chardonnay on the south ridge.
2021 could have possessed any combination of a wide range of challenges not smoke related and all our winemaking friends would have dropped to their knees and thanked the stars. To have lost something so precious the year before, one of a finite number of vintages in a life, was devastating. To have it followed by what I’ll term to be a neo-classically perfect vintage felt like a balancing of universal fates. Our valley’s classic cool nights anchored the vines as they worked. There was heat, concentrated, record breaking heat, yes, but this is the new world and we’ve spent the last decade and more listening and learning. We farm through a more sensitive lens, we make wiser, more forward thinking decisions in the winery. We work at elevation near the cool air of forests, on east facing slopes just for summers like this one. When the wines became clear in the cellar we saw a shimmering intensity, catching the light from every angle. Luxurious and fine, destined for long life, but brimming with an infectious joy on day one. An ode to sunshine yes, but to forests who drink the rain deeply as well, if this is the new way, lead on.
Fruit from seven rows of this hallowed estate produced just four barrels of shimmering golden tension. A mineral nerve weaves through layers of sun drenched lemon and airy custard.