Monument Wine C0., Portland, OR
WINES
French Lessons 2020: "the years i spent in france were punctuated by mostly cheap, simple wines. i'll forever be charmed by utilitarian, honest wines but also hope to find a little counterpoint, tension, and character in everyday bottles. that is, largely, where the wines of the loire have found a welcome audience - and this bottling is very much an homage to such efforts.
a 60/40 blend of chardonnay from layne vineyard and sauvignon blanc from iron gate vineyard just down the road. grapes were hand-harvested on the same day, crushed by foot and remained on the skins for 36 hours before being pressed. a little more than half of the juice went to neutral barrel while the rest fermented in a stainless-steel tank; no racking or battonage, and malo was allowed to finish. given the touch of residual sugar, the wine was filtered; the acidity and length of it balances things out quite nicely." - Tyler 75 cases produced |
Smithereens 2020 "as much of oregon was blanketed with smoke from the wildfires, grapes were denied sunlight and heat and, for the luckier bunch, time simply stopped. the muscat at rizzo vineyard, planted in 2000 in the eola-amity hills, was harvested in the middle of much-needed rains as the fires began to slowly calm. grapes clusters swelled; big, fragrant things that looked like costume jewelry, and they were crushed and left to macerated on their skins for eleven days before going to tank. only chance, and perhaps wind, kept smoke taint away.
. due to the unique harvest conditions, alcohol was 8.4% upon completion; 20% of the finished wine is co-fermented chardonnay/sauv blanc from tank, which lent the wine a little structure while still clocking in under 10%. in many ways, this is the foil to permanent piece, or playful nemesis. it's floral, delicate, and light - so much so that the 500ml bottle seemed the perfect vessel - and somehow subtle yet still quite distinctive. even the label depicts the remnants of the syrah label." -Tyler 100 cases produced -- 500ml |
Daughter 2020: "a blend of three neutral pinot noir barrels from rodriguez family vineyard in the willamette valley and one co-fermented barrel of rodriguez pinot and layne syrah. the pinot was picked on two seperate days, ten days apart; as always, it was hand-harvested and fermented whole cluster from native yeasts.
the label is a finger-painting by my niece maris, and i suppose i owe her sister ada a try soon enough. the wine is an homage to a lineage of women, starting with my maternal grandmother and coursing through a generation of fiercy funny, wonderfully loving women that ada and maris have already shown no hesitancy to inherit." - Tyler 95 cases produced |
Permeant Piece Layne Vineyard Syrah 2019: "there's something really special about this place, tucked between rocky peaks at 1,600 ft altitude. the old vines, planted by the layne family in the late-70's, are spread across a gentle slope and feel like an adoptive home for this new jersey beach kid. we harvested these grapes on october 15th by hand, and it was fermented whole cluster from native yeasts. the wine spent a full year in neutral barrel and nine additional months resting in barrel. unfined, unfiltered, and only a sensibly nominal sulfur addition.
buoyant but spicy, black fruit, blood, campfire, even better on the second day." - Tyler . 48 cases produced |