Argyle’s Amazing Sparkling Wines from the Willamette Valley
Orgeon’s Willamette Valley is well known for its world-class Pinot Noir and more recently an emerging reputation for top-notch Chardonnay. However, the sparkling wines from this part of the world often slip under the radar. There are several producers making exceptional traditional-method sparkling wines in the region, but the real stand out for me is Argyle. Not only do Argyle’s top bottlings (like the Extended Tirage release with 10-years of aging on lees) deliver quality on par with famous Champagne houses, but their regular, vintage-dated “everyday” wines are simply phenomenal at $25! Argyle has been making sparkling wines in Oregon since 1987. They have several excellent estate vineyards in the Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills, plus a partnership with another vineyard in the new Mt. Pisgah AVA. Winemaker Nate Klostermann is unrelenting in his standards. All of their wines, including the less expensive wines in the range, are grown by them, fruit is hand-picked, fermentation is with their own proprietary isolated yeast strain, and the wines get a minimum of 36 months aging on lees. They are disgorged in small batches on demand. These wines always represent a fantastic value for money and over-deliver time and time again.
2018 Argyle Blanc de Noirs Willamette Valley Brut Sparkling Wine $24.95 Sourced entirely from Spirit Hill Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. This wine is composed of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier. The wine rested on its lees in bottle for 36+ months before being disgorged with a low dosage of 4g/L. So delicious: freshly baked pastry, golden raspberry, wet stone, really lively fizz, and great persistence on the palate. I just drank one of these while cooking Christmas dinner and was reminded just how excellent it is!
2019 Argyle Willamette Valley Brut Sparkling Wine $24.95 The workhorse of the Argyle range—and what a reliable, noble steed this is! Combining fruit from Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity, and Mt. Pisgah, the blend of the 2019 vintage Brut is 63% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, and 7% Pinot Meunier. Once again, true to their own high standards, this wine got a full three years (or more) on the lees before disgorgement. A lovely combination of crisp golden fruit, bright citrus, moving into toasty notes of warm croissant, and caramel brittle before the racy, mineral driven finish brings everything into sharp focus. Excellent.
2020 Argyle Willamette Valley Blanc de Blancs Brut Sparkling Wine $24.95 The 2020 Blanc de Blanc is 100% Chardonnay. A portion of the base wine is fermented and aged in neutral French oak, whilst the majority is kept in stainless steel. After 36+ months on less the wine is disgorged with just 2g/L dosage. Bright, racy, mouthwatering, white flowers, freshly cut hay, toasted almond, salted bread. Perfect with crab—bring on the Dungeness!
2020 Argyle Willamette Valley Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine $24.95 Argyle's Vintage Brut Rosé is a blend of the three classic Champagne varieties—54% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Meunier. The fruit is sourced from Knudsen Vineyard in the Dundee Hills and Spirit Hill Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. The wine is bright, fresh and crisp with hints of Alpine strawberry and spiced citrus peel.
2013 Argyle "Extended Tirage" Willamette Valley Brut Sparkling Wine $69.95 If you really want to see what Argyle can do then have a small splurge on their exceptional Extended Tirage bottling. The current release is 2013 vintage as the wine spends 10 years aging on lees! Composed of 60% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, this wine combines incredible purity and freshness with all that complexity and character you get with such long aging. Most wines with this amount of time on tirage are understandably very expensive, (Bollinger Grande Année, Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle) often over $200 a bottle…so at $69.95 this should be considered a serious value!