ORCA - Domaine Serene

A passion for Pinot noir led Ken & Grace Evenstad to Oregon in 1989 where they established their state of the art winery and named the Domaine after their daughter, Serene.

Deciding from the beginning to produce premium quality wines, they purchased three of the best vineyard sites in the Dundee Hills and instituted vineyard management and winemaking practices designed to ensure complex, concentrated and elegant Pinot noir and Chardonnay year after year.

Domaine Serene farms to produce very low crop levels for concentrated flavors, with a 15-year average of 1.7 tons per acre. Vineyards are dry farmed and grapes are handpicked and sorted. Individual lots from each vineyard are kept separate in small open-top fermentors, and cooperage is selectively sourced from several French oak forests and seasoned for 3 years. There is minimal intervention in the winemaking process and gentle gravity flow is employed to move the wine from harvest to bottling. The Pinot noir is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Domaine Serene Winemaker, Erik Kramer, had a lifelong passion for science and an appreciation of fine wine that led him to obtain a Postgraduate Diploma in Viticulture and Enology from Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand. In addition to his winemaking experience in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Erik has also worked for several well reputed wineries in New Zealand and Washington.

TASTING NOTES
Rich and complex with a lovely, classic “White Burgundy” nose, a touch of toasty oak and smoke, lemon zest, baked apple and ripe pear fruit. The palate is powerful and weighty with good structure and a fine balance of concentration and freshness. Precise and crisp with bright acidity and good focus, this is a delicious, modern-styled Chardonnay made in a distinctive Old World style.

VINEYARD
The Evenstad Reserve Chardonnay is 100% Dundee Hills AVA and is sourced from four of Domaine Serene's Estate Vineyards: Cote Sud (47%), Clos du Soleil (23%), Clos du Lune (16%) and Etoile (14%). The wine was made from 100% Dijon clone Chardonnay and is a complex blend of several different Dijon clones: 96 (39%), 76 (34%), 124 (12%), 95 (7%), 548 (4%), 75 (2%), and 78 (2%).

CROP YIELD & AGING
2.23 tons per acre. Aged 17 months in French oak barrels of which 72% were new.

In addition to the Evenstad Reserve Chardonnay, Domaine Serene also produces Clos du Soleil, Clos du Lune, Côte Sud Vineyard, and Etoile Vineyard Dijon clone Chardonnays in limited very quantities.