Limited Addition "Mencia" Willamette Valley, Oregon 2021

FROM LIMITED ADDITION:

THE WINE: This is the first Mencia planted in the Willamette Valley AVA. This Spanish variety of Galician origin was rediscovered in its homeland of Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra in 2002 and this is the only planting of the variety in the Willamette Valley. The nearly 2-acre block is planted with four different clones. It is grown on the highest and rockiest volcanic site at the Eola Springs Vineyard in the Eola Amity Hills AVA and as it does in its homeland the variety delivers a distinctive minerality and dark volcanic soil character to the tannins of this wine. The 2021 vintage was the second, eagerly anticipated, fruit of this planting and it didn’t disappoint again. This was possibly the most exciting, and intensely fragrant, fermentation in the cellar this harvest. The grapes were fermented half destemmed and the rest whole-bunch with foot treading for the first few days, the cool fermentation was intensely fragrant with rose, musk, and blue fruits that morphed into exotic paprika, chorizo, and sumac aromatics. This wine is a shapeshifter but we believe we have captured the essence of the variety in the Eola Amity Hills AVA in this bottling.

THE PRODUCER: Limited Addition wines was born out of the conviction that Oregon’s Willamette Valley was an exceptional winegrowing region capable of growing many high-quality global grape varieties not yet planted, or even imagined here... yet.

Varieties that would suit the regions changing climate and be capable of making naturally farmed, naturally made wines, expanding the growing season, varietal diversity and build the regions resilience to climate change.

We believe that by changing the landscape of vineyards throughout the valley, every person involved in the wine industry has an opportunity for more- from the growers to the wineries theselves.