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Lolati Wines 2021 Sauvignon Blanc
Indiana, Oregon, Africa, and back.
What do winemaking in South Africa, playing the harp in Indiana, and culinary school in Oregon have in common? Leigh Brown, the owner and winemaker of Lolati Wines.
Leigh Brown studied harp performance at the renowned school of music at Indiana University and set out to make it as a professional musician. But needing to make ends meet, she fell into the world of restaurants and moved to Oregon for culinary school.
Before long, she’d re-awakened her passion for wine, born in South Africa where her father grew up and much of her family still lives.
After working a harvest in South Africa, inspired by Dutch and French winemaking practices, she returned to Oregon and became the assistant winemaker at Marshall Davis Wine.
While still performing harp music, she’s launched Lolati Wines (named for her great-grandfather’s farm) featuring bold reds and crisp whites like those she found in South Africa.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Lolati Wines, Sherwood , Oregon
2021 Sauvignon Blanc
Some wines are the same everywhere. Sauvignon Blanc has an extraordinary range — it can be grassy, herbal, and “green bell pepper” in cool climates; and tropical and ripe in warm climates.
Made in Oregon, the grapes in this wine come from the warm climate of Aquilini Vineyard on the Washington side of the Columbia Valley AVA. (Grapes don’t care about legal fictions like state borders, and the Columbia Valley is one of four cross-border AVAs in Oregon.)
As a result, this wine explodes with tropical aromatics, bright acid and citrus notes, and flavors of pineapple, white peach, and lychee fruit. It’s not a one-note wine, however, as those herbal and grassy notes come through on the finish.
Pair this wine with fresh cheeses, oysters, and even Thai food!
A Cellar 503 selection in June 2022, Columbia Gorge Columbia Valley | Sauvignon Blanc
