One of the wines we are the most excited about, is our second vintage of our estate rosé. Because our limited production 2021 Estate Rosé magnums were so well received, and the young vines have had another year to establish and develop, we are increasing production, and releasing 750ml bottles in addition to a limited run of the coveted 1.5Ls. A stunning rosé, and a perfect representation of Stonemarker fruit, it is not a wine to miss. Equally exciting is the new vintage of the ever-popular Orange Cuvée. This second vintage includes Gewürztraminer in addition to the Riesling, Pinot Gris and Muscat- completing the superfecta of the four noble grapes of Alsace. Alsacian wine is all about bright acidity balanced by floral and peachy aromas and full, rich palates. Typically, the producers in Alsace do not use oak aging to add spice and richness, instead they rely on a balance of ripeness and alcohol to fill out the flavor. This year’s Orange Cuvée will be an ode to this style.

Our entire 2021 vintage came from certified organic vineyards. We sourced from a few new vineyards: Red Boar, just outside of Walla Walla, and Foundry Vineyard’s very own estate vineyard, Stonemarker.

Now that the vineyard has been certified, we are able to source from our estate for a Pét Project wine. At Stonemarker we try to go above and beyond certified organic standards and this year we were actually aided by the dry season. Arid conditions created very little mildew pressure and because of this, we only sprayed 5 times this season which is about half as much as is usually needed. We also opted not to use sulfur and instead made organic neem oil our primary spray, supplemented by some homemade compost tea,infused with fermented horsetail and fermented nettle teas (herbs that grow wild at the creek and wetland area just at the base of the vineyard). Stay tuned to learn more about our vineyard management and future plans for Stonemarker.

We purchased fruit from Arete Vineyard this year, a new (to us) vineyard in the Columbia Valley AVA near the town of Othello, WA. This vineyard has some of the oldest Chenin Blanc and Gewürztraminer in Washington State (38 years old!). Also joining the line-up: Riesling and Syrah. Along with the new wines we tried a few new wine-making techniques (both during fermentation and in the cellar) in an effort to continually push for more complexity and diversity of flavor in our pet-nats.

I choose to undergo USDA organic certification at our production facility and estate vineyard because it lets you, the consumer, know that at a minimum we adhere to these baseline rules. Certification is an intense, borderline excessive process, but I took it on because I feel it is worthwhile to participate in a standard of best practices that promote environmental, consumer, and producer health.

A note on sustainability

Sustainable is a broad unregulated term in the wine industry but generally speaking the many certifications that are out there exist to provide oversight on the environmental impacts of farming. This is a big plus but it isn’t strict enough and a lot of the rules are more like strong suggestions. For example, the weed killing chemical Glyphosate is discouraged but still permitted by many sustainable certification bodies.

Sustainable and Organic are not interchangeable terms. A farm can be sustainable but not Organic but it is more difficult to be Organic and not Sustainable because the products that are approved for use in Organic farming are, on the whole, less impactful on the environment. Some have argued that because Organic sprays are less effective than synthetic/systemic sprays that the use of more diesel required for the tractor to spray a field is just as bad or worse for the environment. I would argue that removing chemicals from our food and the land is achievable now so we should start there. Better sources of clean, affordable energy will hopefully become more available in the near future but why should we sacrifice soil health and our personal health in the meantime.

New to the group is a same-day-pick and co-fermented Chardonnay / Pinot Noir blend also sourced from Acadia Vineyard. This wine is delicate and fresh, a tip of the hat to single vineyard-style Champagne. Next is the Albariño with a bright lemony acidity. We bottled this wine in 375ml bottles particularly for those folks who don’t like sharing their bubbles. This wine is in a dead heat with the Grüner Veltliner for top seafood friendly wine - but which to choose is fairly straightforward. If the flavors in a dish would be complemented by fresh lime then go with the Grüner and if they lean more towards a lemon profile, then choose Albariño.