Get the Dirt Here!

Saturday August 3rd at 11 am

With intoxicating enthusiasm, Dr. Scott Burns will explain how millions of years worth of geology–in the form of volcanoes, tectonic shifts and massive flooding– created the unique soils of the Dundee Hills. Winemaker Jesse Lange will then present a guided tasting of our coveted 2010 Lange Estate, Freedom Hill & Yamhill Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs, paired with delicious appetizers.

LIMITED SEATING

RESERVATIONS BY ADVANCE TICKET: CLICK HERE

$40 per person

Cru Club $34 per person

*Scott Burns is a Professor of Geology and Chair of the Geology Department at Portland State University. He has been teaching at the University level for 43 years and has taught in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana before returning to his native Oregon 23 years ago when he started at Portland State. He is a 6th generation Oregonian. His specialties include natural history, geological hazards, the Missoula Floods, terroir (the relationship between geology, soils, climate and wines), Quaternary geology, geomorphology, engineering geology and environmental geology. His book “Cataclysms on the Columbia, the Great Missoula Floods” is in it’s third printing. It is an honor to have Dr. Scott Burns join us for this talk at Lange Estate Vineyards.

Artisan

In the mid-80’s, Don and Wendy Lange joined the second wave of Willamette Valley wine homesteading-two idealistic artists (Wendy studied literature and ballet, Don is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an accomplished musician and songwriter) who fell in love with pinot noir tasting the wines of their neighbors, Eyrie and Erath. They planted a vineyard in 1987 and engaged in a by-the-bootstraps operation whose success coincided with the emergence of the Dundee Hills as a premier locale for pinot noir in the Willamette Valley. In 2005 Don’s son, Jesse, took over winemaking and management duties for the winery. Jesse brought what he calls a hyper-organized sensibility to the operation. “Not exactly Type-A” he says, “but pretty close.” Jesse has enjoyed the blossoming of resources not just for his winery, but also for the region at large, with more clonal selections and better trellising and spacing systems. The availability of new tools and equipment brought renewed focus to the wine program at Lange, even as the winery has expanded from 7,000 cases to 18,000. Jesse shepherded the purchase of two new Dundee Hills estate vineyard sites, Mia Block and Redside, to complement their original 30 acre estate, which is itself now in its third decade, planted to own-rooted Pommard and Wadenswil selections.

Don and Jess work together on blending trials; the wines reflect Don’s respect for Burgundian winemaking, informed by pristine fruit expression and Jesse’s prowess in the vineyard. Their 2010 Three Hills Cuvee Chardonnay reflects a Chablisienne character both linear and graceful. But their best wine this year came from the venerable Freedom Hill Vineyard, nestled in an out-of-the-way pocket of the valley northeast of Salem that has long been a source for several leading Oregon producers. The 2009 Pinot Noir it produced is nimble and fine boned in its texture, grippy and savory, poised for long life. –P.J.C.

Top Scouring Wines

93 points- 2009 Lange Pinot Noir Freedom Hill

92 Points- 2010 Lange Chardonnay Three Hills Cuvee

92 points- 2009 Lange Pinot Noir Lange Estate Vineyard

“Each year Wine & Spirits Magazine blind tastes more than 10,000 wines, to present the most compelling wines to our readers. We recognize brands with the most consistent performance and the highest scores in our tasting as our Top 100 Wineries of the Year. Lange’s range of exceptional wines makes it a great ambassador for Oregon. – Congratulations from all of us at Wine & Spirits.”

Recent Accolades from Wine & Spirits Magazine
93 Points: 2009 Pinot Noir “Freedom Hill Vineyard”
92 Points: 2009 Pinot Noir “Lange Estate Vineyard”
92 Points & Best Buy: 2010 Pinot Noir “Willamette Valley”
92 Points: 2010 Chardonnay “Three Hills Cuvee”
91 Points: 2009 Pinot Noir “Three Hills Cuvee”
90 Points: 2009 Pinot Noir “Reserve”
90 Points: 2011 Pinot Gris “Reserve”

Kat brought with her Dr. Scott Burns, the geology professor at PSU, along with some fellow students and dug a soil pit about 6 feet deep to analyze the Jory soil– also known as Xeric Haplohumult– here in the Dundee Hills. They were able to differentiate a few different layers as they dug further into the earth.

PhD Candidate Kat (foreground), Dr. Scott Burns (explaining the pisolites), Jesse Lange (in the red shirt), along with the rest of Kat’s team in the Mia Block at Lange Estate.

The top layer had a fair amount of pisolites throughout the soil, which are little concretions formed over time. These pisolites are much more common in Laurelwood soil, which contains a larger amount of loess (windblown silt). They are not very common in Jory soil, but when they are present in vineyards, some say they add more cherry flavors to the wine produced from those grapes.

The second layer was more of a mixture of the top and bottom layers. We happen to have a large amount of gophers and moles in the Mia Block, and because of that there are a lot of tunnels throughout the soil. When the older tunnels collapse and compact, they are given a new name: krotovina. These krotovina homogenize the soil layers, creating a “mixed zone”.

The deepest layer is all clay and very red (which is what Jory soil is known for), and the deeper you get, the redder the dirt. Dr. Burns told us the significance of the red color, “Red dirt means two things: it’s well drained and it’s old. This soil here is about 1 million years old. It is the epitome of absolutely great soil. Classic Jory!”

Soil samples showing how much redder the dirt becomes as you dig further down.

We wish Kat all the best in her pursuit of a doctorate, and we were glad to provide her with ample specimens to analyze over the next year.

Here’s to our wonderful soil, cheers! (mmm, I do taste cherry!)

Cheers, Barbara!

$236**

(that’s over 20% off!)

This special case price will only be available online and in our tasting room through the 4th of July, so take advantage before it’s gone!

Purchase Now

*Mixed case includes 4 bottles each of 2010 Pinot Noir “Reserve”, 2011 Pinot Gris “Reserve”, & 2011 Rosé. Available while supplies last, no substitutions. **Cannot be combined with any other quantity discounts.

Bloom occurred over the weekend at our Redside Vineyard, in the Dundee Hills. This is an exciting time in the vineyard because it is when you can begin to watch each grape develop from a little flower to a plump berry, ready to be made into wine. Cheers to the start of the 2012 vintage!