Words from John House, Producer:
Old Love is inspired by what makes Big Salt so special. Instead of big salty, floral aromas like Big Salt - Old Love is all about big, salty CITRUS flavours. Kind of like a blood orange margarita on the beach...but not sweet! It is a dry, white blend that dreams of capturing the summer sun in a bottle of wine. Aromas of fresh cut blood orange, salty lemon and aloe vera typify this racy, texturally rich white wine. Guided by mother nature, we combine the Big Salt process, with a proprietary ageing process to elevate the terroir that each of our five vineyards bring us (citrus, salinity, bright acidity, florality, ripe apricot).
OLD LOVE is a “method” Oregon white wine inspired by early 1800’s winemaking in Austria. One might ask – what the hell were Austrian monks doing to wine in the early 1800’s that made it worth repeating!?! They harvested vineyards with varying qualities of ripeness/acidity/fruitiness/minerality – fermented them together (read BIG SALT) – then they used methods during elevage to express the full potential within the wine. We’ve taken this methodology, combined it with OVUM concepts, and POOF! We have OLD LOVE.
Where does OLD LOVE come from?
2019 OLD LOVE comes from FIVE vineyards planted throughout Oregon: Willamette, Eola-Amity, Columbia Gorge, Southern OR. The sites are focused on sustainable farming practices – dry farming, organic and minimal additions. Some are not certified organic, but are in the process of converting. Each site is chosen for its unique qualities that it will lend to the final wine. 2019 is primarily Riesling, but OLD LOVE is not about a single grape – it is about the vineyards coming together to make a singular wine of Oregon.
How is OLD LOVE produced?
After a soak on skins (diff for each site), the fruit is pressed (hard) into tank where native fermentation begins. Then, apx 35% of the juice in tank is racked into: amphora, Austrian cask, cement egg and neutral barrel. Then we wait a lunar cycle…
After 28 days or so, the wine in the vessels is added back to the wine in stainless steel.
Once it is fully blended, we place 35% of the wine BACK into amphora, cask, egg and barrel. This process is repeated three times.
But why? Each vessel helps express different potential within the wine:
• Amphora brings structure and natural earthiness.
• Austrian cask adds textural complexity and rounds high-tone aromatics.
• Cement egg pulls out minerality at the loss of fruit aromas.
• Neutral barrel helps express secondary and tertiary flavors.