Gamay, Evening Land

ONE OF WILLAMETTE VALLEY’S 'GRAND CRU' LEVEL VINEYARDS

The acclaimed duo from Sandhi’s Oregon masterpiece: Sashi and Raj, by ushering in Seven Springs Vineyard’s fourth decade, remain at the forefront of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay production in the New World. Everything for them has always started in the vineyard and when they had the chance to become stewards of this historic site, they couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity. The estate is as critically acclaimed as their California projects [Piedrasassi, Sandhi, and Domaine de la Cote] but with a soul all to its own, owed to the unique geology and natural splendor of the Willamette Valley. 

A beautiful southeastern-facing slope in Eola-Amity Hills: The estate Seven Springs Vineyard has been dry-farmed from the beginning and since 2007, all farming was converted to biodynamics. Today this beautiful hillside is beaming with life from the Nekia soils to the native ecosystem that calls the vineyard home. Cooled by the Pacific breeze funneled in by the Van Duzer Corridor, this site has proven ideal not just for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but also Gamay. Evening Land Vineyards is the ultimate celebration of this terroir and the small lot, block-specific bottlings like La Source, Summum, and Anden offer its most clear expressions.

Sourced from 2.2 acres of Gamay vines planted in 2003 in iron-rich, volcanic clay soils, the 2018 Seven Springs Gamay Noir is the most developed and complex expression of the variety they have produced to date. The fruit was fermented in a sealed concrete tank for 10 days before being drained and pressed. The wine was raised in their oldest French neutral barrels for 15 months, and bottled without filtration.