2018
Cramoisi Vineyard
Pinot Noir
Cramoisi Vineyard
Featured on September 18, 2020
Where: Cramoisi Vineyard sits at an elevation of 500 to 600 feet in Oregon’s Dundee Hills.
Who: Sofia Torres McKay is a native of Mexico City who worked in the tech industry before relocating to Oregon to launch Cramoisi Vineyard with her husband Ryan. As cofounder of AHIVOY (Asociación Hispana de la Industria del Vino en Oregon y Comunidad), Sofia is a prominent activist for vineyard stewards.
Why: The cuvée offers elegant fruit expression with lively acidity and minerality. The vintner’s strong connection to the people behind her wines make this cuvée well worth exploring. Says Sofia:
“The synergy with my vineyard stewards is beautiful, and that gets reflected in my wines. As a Latino grower, co-owner of Cramoisi, I speak the same language and share the same culture, so seems that energy flows well to benefit my place, people, and of course my wine.”
How: Harvested from eight-year-old vines, the fruit was destemmed and cold-soaked for four days before undergoing a 21-day native fermentation. The wine was then aged for one year in 35 percent new French oak. Of the vineyard, Sofia says:
Our clones are a mix of the best and favorite clones from Oregon’s Pinot plantings (Pommard), the Dijon clones imported form Burgundy (667, 777) and more rare Heirloom/Heritage clones such as “Holstein” and Vosne-Romanée (clone 122).
As a biodynamic farmer and to show the love to my vines, I spray chamomile tea on the vines when we go through a heatwave to calm them–kind of a day at the spa! Doing it by hand allows me to enjoy the chamomile tea in my face, my hair and to visit each vine in the vineyard, to connect and have a healthy relationship with my land.
On supporting vineyard workers during wildfire season:
We need to make sure they still know that COVID is still here, we need to provide them with the right masks We need to remind them to drink lots of water, sleep well and not exhaust themselves.… Vineyard stewards are the ones that are helping us to move forward in 2020. We need to be here for them.
Learn more about AHIVOY and participate in their fall auction >