Explore Oregon Wines: Wineries | Varietals | AVAs | Cellar 503 Selections
Troon Vineyard 2016 Vermentino
Easy call: Grants Pass, not Napa.
Craig Camp and Steve Hall were prominent Napa Valley wine guys, making celebrated top-flight wines. So why would they walk away and move to rural southern Oregon to make wine?
For Craig, it was about the freedom to make great wine: “There was a vineyard on Napa’s Howell Mountain that we had been buying Cabernet from at over $10,000 a ton. The vineyard was sold and the new owner told me the new price would be $21,000 a ton. What fun is that? You can’t take risks with fruit that costs so much that you’re doomed to making a safe Napa Valley style. In the Applegate Valley, we can take risks and make exciting wines with a real edge.”
So when the opportunity came up to take over as general manager of Troon, he jumped! After all, the original vines at Troon Vineyard were planted in 1972.
And it wasn’t long before winemaker Steve Hall made the same jump from Napa to Grants Pass. For Steve, it was that same freedom – and the chance to work with the many the Italian varietals at Troon, grown in a climate similar to Italy.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Troon Vineyard, Grants Pass, Oregon
2016 Vermentino
At Troon, they don’t do anything halfway. Every grape is harvested by hand and crushed by foot. Wines are made with minimum interventions, so that the character of the vineyard and the Applegate Valley defines the wine, not winemaking tricks or additives.
Vermentino is an Italian wine, typically found on the northwest coast, as well as on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. Lovers of this wine often note that its coastal character comes through in the salinity and minerality of the wine.
This “blue label” edition from Troon opens with aromas of lime and orange that roll over to an exotic spice that is soft and lovely on your palate. There’s a 10% blend of Marsanne in this wine that rounds out the zest and tang of the Vermentino.
A Cellar 503 selection in January 2018, Italy in Oregon Applegate Valley | Vermentino
