Goldschmidt Vineyard:
Rex Hill Winery and Goldschmidt Vineyard Sold
by Christina Kelly, Avalon Editor/Writer, November 7, 2006
A to Z Winery, a small 2,500 case winery that grew to 100,000 cases this year, has purchased Rex Hill Vineyards, making it one of the largest wineries in the state.
Founded in 2002, A to Z Winery has catapulted like a rocket to the top of the wine-producing heap, despite the fact that the wine label has no permanent physical location. Bill Hatcher, who brought an extensive background in strategy and finance to the winery, created brand loyalty by pricing easy-to-drink Oregon Pinot Noir under $20.
The winery did not own any vineyards - Hatcher and his partners Sam Tannahill and Cheryl Francis secured contracts from numerous Oregon vineyards, keeping the identities of those vineyards a "professional secret." The name came from the fact that in the beginning, the winery did not know if its grapes would come from Winery A, Winery B or Winery Z as the partners protected the identity of the wineries and vineyards.
Originally, the two couples purchased bulk wine during a wine glut a few years ago. Gradually, as the bulk market dried up, the winery began signing long-term contracts for grapes. A to Z Winery leased facilities from six different wineries, including Rex Hill, to ferment, blend and bottle the wines.
Rex Hill Winery, founded in 1982, is owned by Paul Hart and his wife, Jan Jacobsen. The winery has a second label, King's Ridge, offering Pinot Noir under $20 per bottle. In published reports, Hart indicated the winery was a labor of love, but too much to handle as he eyes retirement.
In other news, the Goldschmidt Vineyard, owned by former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt was sold to an undisclosed California investor. The price of the 17-acre site - one of the oldest vineyards in Oregon - was also not disclosed.
Goldschmidt could not be reached for comment. His vineyard is thought to be one of the best in Oregon, with the fruit highly sought after by winemakers, including Lynn Penner Ash, winemaker for Dusky Goose Pinot Noir. In an earlier avalonwine.com article, Penner Ash said she thought the Goldschmidt Vineyard was a spectacular site.
"There is an incredible dried cherry quality that is unique to that site," said Penner Ash last year. "The fruit smells like dried cherry tea, and then moves into a ripe red pear mouth feel. It produces a very focused, red-fruited wine that is incredibly rich and sweet."
Dusky Goose has been the estate label for the Goldschmidt Vineyard. The vineyard also supplies fruit to Adelsheim Vineyard, Patricia Green Cellars, R. Stuart and Penner Ash Wine Cellars.
Although details of the pending sale were not disclosed, an insider indicated that no formal plans have been announced and it would take a few weeks to wait and see what the new owner plans to do with the vineyard.
Goldschmidt Vineyard: On the "Yum Factor" Scale, Goldschmidt Vineyard is a 10!
by Cole Danehower
The name "Goldschmidt Vineyard" may not yet fall as trippingly from the tongue of Oregon wine lovers as some other hallowed single vineyard names, but those in the know consider this site to be one of the very best Pinot noir vineyards in Oregon.
"I think Goldschmidt Vineyard is an awesome site for Pinot noir," enthuses winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash. "It is a spectacular vineyard and near and dear to my heart in terms of quality!"
Penner-Ash should know: she worked with the vineyard's fruit at Rex Hill from 1988 to 1996, and today makes Pinot noir wine from the site for both the Dusky Goose label and her own Penner-Ash Wine Cellars.
"There is an incredible dried cherry quality that is unique to that site," she says. "The fruit smells like dried cherry tea, and then moves into a ripe red pear mouth feel. The fruit has a creamy textural feel when it is ready to pick, and in the winery it produces a very focused red fruited wine that is incredibly rich and sweet."
Located in the prime Pinot land known as the Red Hills of Dundee, Goldschmidt Vineyard was originally planted in 1974 and today is home to some of the oldest own-rooted Pinot noir vines in the Willamette Valley. The original plantings included Pommard, Wdenswil, and the so-called Coury Clone of Pinot noir (the latter appears to be a "suitcase clone" brought into Oregon by Charles Coury in the early 1970s) - as well as a "mystery" clone of unconfirmed origins.
The earliest plantings at the site also included Gamay, Chardonnay, and even Cabernet. When ex-Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt purchased the vineyard in 1998, he wisely decided that it was best suited for purely Pinot noir. Goldschmidt asked David Adelsheim, Oregon's foremost expert on Pinot noir clones, to replant the rest of the vineyard taking advantage of the latest clonal material.
The Vineyard Today
Today, the 17-acre site is composed of 15 blocks (see table) with a mixture of different Pinot noir clones. "David did a fabulous job of balancing the vineyard," says Penner-Ash, "and the farming is superbly managed by Andy Humphry."
Humphery has a good site to work with. With a southerly slope ranging in elevation from 440-ft to 560-ft., the exposure and Jory soils combine to make it one of the earliest maturing vineyards in the area - an area, by the way, dotted with such other well-known vineyards as Arcus, Bergstrm, Maresh, and Erath Prince Hill. To take full advantage of the site, Humphery uniquely hand-places shoots and carefully pulls leafs in the fruit zone to help get optimum ripening.
The estate winery for Goldschmidt Vineyard is the Dusky Goose label, founded by the Goldschmidt and Carter families. Besides Dusky Goose, the vineyard also supplies grapes to Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, Patricia Green Cellars, R. Stuart, and Adelsheim Vineyard.
"When Neil approached me about making the wines for Dusky Goose," recalls Penner-Ash, "we walked through Goldschmidt Vineyard and talked about the style of wine they wanted to produce. We talked about what each block might bring to the wine, and we picked out what we thought were the best blocks for their style."
To Penner-Ash's surprise, Goldschmnidt then offered her the pick of the remaining blocks to help her launch her first independent venture, Penner-Ash Wine Cellars.
Lynn Penner-Ash and Goldschmidt Vineyard
"I'am always very gentle with the fruit," says Penner-Ash describing he approach to making wines from Goldschmidt Vineyard, whether for Dusky Goose or for her own label. "I pretty much let it do its own thing." She focuses on small, indigenous yeast ferments, and she carefully manages fermentation temperatures.
She's also found that the vineyard's fruit seems to have an affinity for barrels from France's Cadus cooper. "Sometimes the red fruit is so high in fruitiness that it tends to dominate the aromatics," she says. "To mitigate that the barrels add just the right amount of spice to complement the fruit."
Even so, Penner-Ash is careful to let the Goldschmidt Vineyard speak for itself in the wines. "I want to support the lushness of the vineyard, and not overshadow it."
It is that lushness that seems to shine through in all the wines from Goldschmidt Vineyard. "People put the wine in their mouth and they say 'Oh my God!' Somehow this site produces wines with an incredibly sweet and rich mid mouth feel - It has a high yumm factor," exclaims Penner-Ash, "I don't know how else to describe it!"
Goldschmidt Vineyard:
Block - Clone - Year Planted
1 Pommard 1975
2 Pommard 1976
3 Dijon 115 1974
4 Wädensvil 1974
5 Coury 1990
6 Dijon 115 2000
7 Coury 2002
8 Dijon 777 1999
9 Dijon 667 1999
10 Coury 1974
11 Mystery 1974
12 Dijon 115 1974
13 Dijon 115 1974
14 Dijon 115 2001
15 Dijon 115 2001
