Oregon's Hundred Suns Wines: As Good As Ever!
Despite being a relatively new project (founded in 2015) Hundred Suns very quickly became a huge staff favorite here at K&L. They have the magic trio of factors to become such “house wines” with our staff: phenomenal quality, really cool people, fantastic value for money. Hundred Suns is a husband-and-wife team: Grant and Renée are immersed with the wines in every aspect from living on the estate vineyard with their small kids, farming, winemaking, label design, sales, and marketing—a truly boutique operation, but one that seeks (and finds) perfection in many aspects. The wines are beautifully crafted: pure, expressive, authentic wines with tons of character and sense of place. Grant was the longtime Assistant Winemaker at Beaux Freres, a true icon of the Oregon wine world. He's an immensely talented winemaker and has deep connections throughout the region. Renée runs just about all other aspects of the business after being a teacher before going all in on their fledgling project.
The winemaking style is relatively minimal intervention. Grant talks about doing as little manipulation in the cellar as possible. His role is to coax these magical wines into bottle with utmost respect for the vineyard expression or the natural characteristics of a growing season. The wines are fermented with native yeast. They are aged in various vessels from traditional Burgundian coopered barriques to larger format puncheons and also terracotta amphora. Despite the minimalist approach to winemaking, these wines are beautifully polished and pure with lovely fruit concentration to complement the more savory, soil driven flavors.
Every year I try to get my hands on just about every one of their wines that makes its way down to California from the exceptional and consistently over-delivering Old Eight Cut wines to the very limited single-vineyard expressions. If you haven’t tried these wines yet, now is a perfect time as we have the new Spring 2024 releases in stock! The single-vineyard wines get huge press every year and are very limited, so act now if you want some in your cellar!
2022 Hundred Suns "Old Eight Cut" Willamette Valley Chardonnay $32.95 Sourced from two vineyards in McMinnville and Eola-Amity Hills (Cole Road and Lone Feather). Whole-cluster pressed to tank for native fermentation to commence, then transferred to predominantly neutral French oak barrels for 11 months on the lees before being bottled unfiltered. This wine has a beautiful crystalline acidity and perfectly represents its name “Old Eight Cut” that comes from an old-fashioned diamond-cutting technique that uses minimal work and tools to subtly enhance the stones natural brilliance.
2022 Hundred Suns (Tualatin Estate) Willamette Valley Gamay Noir $32.95 Sourced from Tualatin Estate in the newly minted Tualatin Hills AVA. The vines grow in several feet of volcanic loam known as Laurelwood series with deep, red Jory soils underneath. Native fermentation, using 30% whole-cluster and the rest destemmed. Aged in terracotta amphora and neutral French oak barrels. A big bright pop of floral aromatics and red berry fruits are tempered by some nice savory, herbal elements with forest floor and truffle.
2022 Hundred Suns "Old Eight Cut" Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $32.95 Year in year out this is one of the best Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs out there for the money. Hundred Suns' "Old Eight Cut" combines an array of incredible vineyards scattered across the region all meticulously blended together to give the panoramic view of a given season through the lens of Pinot Noir. This wine will embarrass many people's $80 single-vineyard wines. Raised in mostly neutral oak. Native fermentation. Wonderful ripe, fleshy, forest berry fruits, hightoned spices with nice floral lift and brightness. Silky on the palate with more exotic red berries and woodsy earthy notes to round it out.
2022 Hundred Suns "Bednarik Vineyard" Tualatin Hills Pinot Noir $59.95 From a tiny 6-acre planting in the Tualatin Hills AVA. These vines were planted in 1988 on their own-roots. Clones are Pommard and Wadenswil. The vineyard is dry-farmed using only organic practices. Native fermentation in neutral French oak. The wine shows natural intensity from the old vines and volcanic loess soils. These classic clones lace the wine with plenty of savory undertones and textural depth. Watch this evolve in the glass for a few hours or give it 2-4 years in the cellar and drink over the next 10-15 years.
2022 Hundred Suns "Sequitur Vineyard" Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir $59.95 A young vineyard only just now reaching 10 years of age, but already one of the most highly regarded plantings in the state, Sequitur was established by Mike Etzel and Carey Critchlow (of Beaux Freres). The vineyard sits next to Beaux Freres' Upper Terrace Vineyard at 450ft elevation in Ribbon Ridge. For decades Mike had pondered this block of land, once home to a douglas fir tree farm, knowing it would produce spectacular wines. After purchasing the land in 2010 and planting it in 2012, the vines have been farmed organically and biodynamically since inception. The soils are ancient marine sedimentary uplift. Fermented 33% whole-cluster with 22 day on skins. Power and precision at once. A stunningly impressive wine with purity and elegance in spades.