Although it’s not ready for commercial sale, we were delighted that wine writer Tamara Belgard featured our planting of Seyval Blanc in the June 2018 issue of the Oregon Wine Press.
In the feature, Belgard covers both our vines (the first planting of Seyval Blanc in the Willamette Valley, as far as we have been able to determine, and the second planting in Oregon), and those of Girardet Vineyards, located in the Umpqua Valley in Roseburg. In the article, second generation winemaker Marc Girardet recalls helping his parents plant Oregon’s first Seyval Blanc vines in the early 1980s.
One of 23 bottles of Bells Up’s first ever batch of estate Seyval Blanc, harvested in 2017, next to a bottle of Girardet 2015 Seyval Blanc (we happened to have been given that bottle by a friend who wanted us to have a point of comparison). Photo by David Schaerer
Girardet, who has been producing roughly 50 cases a year of Seyval Blanc, describes the varietal: “With its naturally high acidity, the flavors tend to be along the bright lemon/grapefruit spectrum, with a delightfully smooth mouthfeel, like lemon meringue pie in a wine.”
Additionally, Belgard highlighted our vineyard, currently planted with 250 vines—and more to come, assuming Sara’s efforts at propagating dormant canes works as hoped. She also noted our personal reason for planting this particular varietal: “Dave won two national amateur winemaking competitions, two months apart in 2011. One of the winners was a Seyval Blanc.”
Dave and Sara in the Seyval Blanc early in the spring, before we had mowed the wild mustard. Although Oregon Wine Press did not use this, it turned out cute so they’ve shared it with us. Photo by David Schaerer
The full article is posted here.
