Nysa was established in 1990 by Michael Mega. Planted and dry farmed on its own roots in the heart of the Dundee hills, it is slowly succumbing to phylloxera and as a result the vines carry small bunches of concentrated fruit. A combination of thirty-year old vines, eastern aspect, and high elevation result in a long ripening season, highlighted by excellent preservation of acidity.
Winery Notes : Gratitude is a practice, a daily choice. Should we not endeavor to always be grateful? We are breathing and we are moving forward and there is so much beauty. My goodness though, 2022 was an eventful vintage. The growing season found creative ways to test us, new and exciting twists that left generations of vintners who’ve preceded us to clap their hands to their heads and exclaim “We have never seen THIS before!” An April frost after a relatively early bud break is a once every 50 years type of event. It remained cool and wet, leading many to fear the worst as vines were slow to recover from the cold. At long last, summer arrived and brought with it its warm spells, but it would take a miracle at this point to accumulate the warmth necessary to bring us to ripeness in advance of the always impending Oregon rain.
In my twentieth year of tying my fortune to the whims of Nature, I have learned just enough to know that the living breathing world around us is a miracle in and of itself. September and October were warm and dry, again a nearly unprecedented series of events. As we diligently sorted the arriving fruit, new challenges arose, the unfamiliar, the confounding and the delightful.
These wines reflect their long journey, they radiate from their cores, alternating layer upon layer of exuberant fruit and resounding stone. They required work, theirs was a roiling nascency, it was our job to guide them to serenity. Loading them onto the truck after bottling felt like sending a child to college, the child you did not know would find their path. No need to worry , their inner fire has been lit and they are for the world now. Everything that could be was poured into them, they will take that love, transform it and it will become yours.
The 2022 Nysa bottling feels like a jewel mined directly from the core of the Dundee Hills themselves. We continue to hone our understanding of these old vines, a place that radiates through vintage, consistently speaking its truth. In a vintage that could become easily over extracted, seventy-five percent of the whole clusters were included, bringing light to the wine, lifting its aromatic purity and providing a sturdy backbone for aging. This is perhaps our most immediately charming Nysa bottling to date.