Pike Road Chardonnay Willamette Valley Oregon 2018

The world-renowned green grape Chardonnay has almost infinite expressions. The Burgundian term is seen by many wine lovers as the "correct" and the best. Willamette Valley in Oregon is one of the few areas in the world that gradually gives Burgundy direct competition when it comes to the quality of the classic grapes – including Chardonnay. However, prices are high due to the difficult conditions in the UNITED States. Elk Cove, the manufacturer behind Pike Road Vineyard, has managed to hit the eye of the needle here. Great balance and quality at a price that is extremely reasonable!

Pike Road Chardonnay is just another example of how well the Burgundian grapes thrive in the US state of Oregon. All the grapes for this wine come from the Willamette Valley AVA. Part of the wine is fermented and aged on French oak (about 35% of which is new) for 9 months, while the rest only sees steel. It provides a restrained and harmonious fading touch that does not dominate or overshadow the fresh, bright fruit.

Pike Road Wines sent their first bottles on the market in 2016. Behind the venture we find the Campbell family, who planted their first fields in 1974 and at the same time started the now well-known vineyard, Elk Cove.

The idea behind Pike Road Wines is to sell high quality wine made from grapes grown exclusively in the Willamette Valley, but at prices there are more available than what you normally see in the area. The new initiative was named after the road that snakes through the lush valley and continues deep into the Oregon Coast Range – the mountains that are so important to willamette valley's favorable cultivation conditions.  

At Pike Road, there is no reservation about buying grapes from other wine growers as long as the quality is top notch. On the contrary, we want to do their part to ensure that small farmers and family businesses around the Willamette Valley can survive, and in many cases the Campbell family has had decades of cooperation with these farmers! Therefore, several of the wines are made on both Pike Road's own grapes and batches from selected farmers in the area. They also stress that this 'multi-vinyard' method may in some cases produce a more complex wine.