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Ridgecrest Wines 2024 Estate Grüner Veltliner
40th Harvest Anniversary
A Dad, A Daughter & A Hill
Oregon wine pioneer Harry Peterson-Nedry planted Ridgecrest Vineyard when his daughter Wynne was only 6 months old, some four decades ago. Wynne literally grew up on this hill – the very first vineyard on Ribbon Ridge, the smallest AVA in the Willamette Valley, and whose wines are today among the most sought-after in the world.
But Ridgecrest was the personal side project. Harry is well-known in the wine world as the founder of the Chehalem Winery. A roaring success, Chehalem grew and grew until it had a life of its own. Yearning for something smaller, something more personal, more family-oriented, Harry sold Chehalem to his partners and returned to his roots at Ridgecrest.
Along the way, Wynne followed in her dad’s footsteps. She became a winemaker and travelled all over the world to work in different wineries and hone her own perspective in wine. In 2009, she came back to the Valley, first at Chehalem and then, as head winemaker for Ridgecrest.
A dad, a daughter, and a hill. You’ll find that line on each of the bottles, reflecting Harry’s vision, Wynne’s deep knowledge of her childhood stomping grounds, and a magnificently-situated vineyard.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Ridgecrest Wines, Newberg, Oregon
2024 Estate Grüner Veltliner
Ah, Ridgecrest Estate Grüner Veltliner, a Cellar 503 club member favorite.
It has one of the most diverse taste profiles of any wine. As famed Austrian winemaker Emmerich Knoll put it, “You can taste ten Grüner Veltliners and still cannot say, ‘I know what Grüner Veltliner tastes like.’”
This Ridgecrest Grüner is one of those bottles that you open and decide within the first two sips that you are going to finish the whole bottle in one sitting!
It starts with a beautiful platinum color and aromas of green apple, dry hay, and white flowers. Then, the nuanced and elegant layers of complexity show up. You’ll taste Queen Anne cherries, oyster shell, peach gummies, green peppercorn, and spicy sage. This is a fullbodied white with a richness and roundness that is expertly balanced with just enough acid.
Grüner Veltliner is best enjoyed with rich foods that can handle the acid, and spicy foods that benefit from the textural complexity. In Austria, a perfectly-fried wienerschnitzel. Here, I love it with spicy Asian foods.
Winemaker's Notes -
Our 2024 Grüner Veltliner is the first vintage which uses a trifecta of fermentation vessels; stainless steel tank, neutral French oak barrels, and a concrete egg. The combination gives a complexity of flavors and aromas, starting with a rich and complex nose, showing flinty minerality, sea breeze, oyster shell, and fresh-cut grass, with hints of honeydew, quince, and white flowers. The palate is bright and structured yet not overly phenolic, highlighting lemongrass, citrus, Asian pear, honeycrisp apple, and a subtle earthiness. Texturally engaging with a velour-like mouthfeel, it balances vibrant acidity with a mouth-coating weight. Sea salt, white pepper, clove, and Italian parsley add depth, leading to a long, spicy finish. A beautifully balanced and layered wine with excellent intensity. - Wynne
Vintage Notes -
2024 - Drier, Cooler, Bigger | Elegant ripening for a larger crop
Vintage 2024 joins the ranks of best-known vintages in the last quarter century, those warm and ripening but not hot, with little rain during growing season, and resulting in balanced fruit, fully ripe and harvested disease-free.
This year had a cooler growing season, similar to a family of ten or so well-respected vintages in the last 25 (such as 2018, 2007-2012, 2005, 2002, 2000). Start of harvest is a factor that has changed, as a response to climate change, with the warmer, recent years moving harvest earlier by as much as three weeks average. The choice to harvest three weeks earlier than past years fits nicely with a larger fruit set (2.88 tons/ac in 2024 compared to 25-year average 2.32 tons/ac), while maintaining desirable sugar and acidity.
2024 saw total heat accumulation which matched the 25 year average, aimed for full ripening, and the lowest rainfall accumulation May-thru-October that we’ve seen since 2008-09, for low disease pressure. All-in-all, 2024 is a Goldilocks vintage with enough warmth, but not too much; enough rain, but not when picking; and enough crop to satisfy bankers, but not so much as to compromise quality. A valley-wide buzz and excitement around the vintage is warranted. - HPN
Technical Data -
AbV - 12.8% | TA - 7.3 g/L | pH - 3.13 | RS 1.4 g/L | 498 Cases Produced | Release - April 2025 | Enjoy Now - 2029
BACK TO SCHOOL
Grüner Veltliner has a reputation of being a particularly food-friendly wine and is a popular offering on restaurant wine lists. It is made into wines of many different styles - much is intended for drinking young in the Heuriger (bars serving new wine) of Vienna, a little is made into sparkling wine, but some is capable of long aging. The steep vineyards of the Danube (Donau) west of Vienna produce very pure, mineral Grüner Veltliners intended for laying down. Down in the plains, citrus and peach flavors are more apparent, with spicy notes of pepper and sometimes tobacco.
Grüner Veltliner has been believed to date back to Roman times, with its name being derived from Veltlin (Valtellina) in northern Italy, though ampelographers and wine historians have yet to find a link between the grape and the Italian commune. The grape is likely indigenous to Austria. The current name appeared in a document for the first time in 1855; before that time it was known as Weißgipfler. Only by the 1930s was Grüner Veltliner established as the standard name of the grape. Until the Second World War, it was regarded as just another Austrian grape, but after the introduction of Lenz Moser's Hochkultur system of vine training, it expanded quickly in plantation from the 1950s to later become Austria's most planted variety.
In recent years, Grüner Veltliner has seen an uptick in interest following the results of a 2002 wine tasting organized by Masters of Wine Jancis Robinson and Tim Atkin. Here Grüner Veltliner from Austria beat out several highly acclaimed white Grand Cru wines from Burgundy.
In 2007, DNA analysis confirmed that Grüner Veltliner was a natural crossing of Savagnin (Traminer) and an obscure Austrian grapevine from the village of Sankt Georgen am Leithagebirge located outside Eisenstadt in the Burgenland region of eastern Austria. The vine was first found in 2000 in an overgrown part of a pasture in a location where there had not been any vineyard since the late 19th century, and is assumed to have been the last vine in this location for over a century. Local experts were not able to determine the variety of the vine. Only when it was threatened to be ripped out in 2005 additional samples were taken and later analyzed at Klosterneuburg. Genetic analysis in the following years by Ferdinand Regner was able to determine that St. Georgener-Rebe is a parent variety to Grüner Veltliner.
St. Georgener-Rebe was once known under the synonym Grüner Muskateller but appears to have no direct relationship to the Muscat family of grapes. In February 2011, the single surviving vine of St. Georgener-Rebe, thought to be over 500 years old, was vandalized and severely cut in several places by an unknown assailant. The vine survived with the Austrian government designating the vine as a protected natural monument. Ampelographers are currently propagating cuttings of the vine for vineyard plantings and commercial cultivation.
A Cellar 503 selection in September 2025, Back to School Ribbon Ridge | Grüner Veltliner
