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Hamacher wines are made traditionally, with minimal intervention and handling, using wild yeast and beneficial bacteria. Chardonnays are aged for 18 months in French oak barrels made from 3-year old weathered staves. Gravity flow is utilized in the winery and racking is by gentle gas pressure. Fruit is sourced from up to a dozen diverse Willamette Valley vineyards selected for their individual character, mature vines of diverse clones and rootstock. This allows Eric the luxury of numerous blending options to make complete, wholesome wines true to the varietal. Owner-winemaker Eric Hamacher originally planned a career in medicine, but switched his career path after a harvest spent at a winery in Sonoma . Enticed by winery teamwork and the family-oriented lifestyle, he decided on a future in winemaking. By the early 1990s, he held a degree in viticulture and enology from UC Davis, and extensive winemaking knowledge gained from working 15 vintages at numerous wineries including Robert Mondavi, Chalone and Etude. In 2002, with his wife Luisa Ponzi and another couple, he designed and built the unique Carlton Winemakers Studio, a LEED registered building providing cooperative winemaking facilities for ten of Oregon’s finest artisan wine producers. 2005 Chardonnay Cuvée Forêts Diverses
Detailed Wine Information |
Eric Hamacher founded his 2000 case winery in 1995 with a clear objective: to handcraft small quantities of quality Pinot noir and Chardonnay wines of elegance, supple texture and balance. In one short decade, Hamacher wines have become some of the most respected and sought after in Oregon , featured in nearly a dozen US markets and exported around the world.
The concentrated minerality of the Dijon clone vineyards coupled with the roundness of the vintage, uncompromising barrel regime and Eric’s winemaking style, combine to deliver an outstanding wine. Only the most prized “For êts Diverses” barrels, constructed with staves air-dried for over three years (more than twice the industry average), are used for this wine. The barrels are only lightly toasted to bend the staves allowing the wood’s non-fermentable sugars to be gently extracted during fermentation. The wine was aged for 18 months in barrel and the lees stirred weekly for close to a year to increase richness on the palate. Whole cluster pressing, wild yeast and malolactic fermentation contribute to a supple, broad, long and satisfying wine of great complexity. Pear, citrus, talc and anise dominate the aromatics, with mineral-laden crème brûlée and apples on the palate. 