2009 Sauvignon Blanc

$18 buy

Continuing in the tradition of lean and food friendly Springhouse Sauv Blanc, this 09 version is loaded with grapefruit and passionfruit, but none of the uniquely feline component that has driven many a wine drinker away from SB. This is the ideal wine to sip on the porch in the snow with a steaming bowl of chili...or cozy in bed with a crossword and a bagel with cream cheese and capers...or with Phad Thai on a sultry summer afternoon... or as an apperitif before a fancy shmancy dinner party...or just by itself.  We've loved it in all these ways.  Fruit from Garneir Vineyard, Mosier OR.  309 cases.

2009 Chardonnay

$15 buy

With the 2009 Chardonnay was barrel fermented in neutral 59 gallon barriques and sat on the lees for 5 months. This is high-acid, Chablis style chardonnay. By forgoing malolactic fermentation, oak, or acid adjustments, we left this wine crisp, dry, and with wider hips than stainless steel versions. 203 cases produced.

2009 PINOT NOIR

Cherries and dirt dominate in this warm climate version of Pinot Noir. Fruit is a blend of dijon clones, harvested by hand at Garnier Vineyard on a gentle slope facing the Columbia River. Regularly stirred, lightly egg-white fined, racked just twice in 19 months in barrel, then coarse filtered at bottling.  With these minimalist winemaking strategies this is not trying to be Burgandy, Carneros or Dundee.  This is what Pinot Noir tastes like from the Gorge. 100 cases.

2009 RUINS RED

2008 Reserve Merlot

$25 buy

ONLINE ONLY - SOLD OUT IN TASTING ROOM

Lately much maligned, yet just as delicious as it ever was, Merlot is staging a comeback here in the Northwest. We make two versions at Springhouse. This one (Poetry) is soft, contemplative, and subtle. The oak here is French, and even that is not entirely new oak, so don’t expect a bomb here. No explosions. No overcooked extraction. No over-reduced black holes of concentration requiring centrifuges and spinning cones just to sell it as wine. This is real Merlot, delicious Merlot, produced from fruit from Columbia View Orchard in Mosier, and High Valley Vineyard in The Dalles. 133 cases produced...and it's ALMOST GONE...just a few cases remain..available online only. 

2009 SYRAH

$23 buy

2009 was a ripe year with the potential for hot wines (i.e. high alcohol), but we showed restraint and picked at a moderate 24.5 Brix, resulting in a balanced 13.7% alcohol by volume. The physiological ripeness of the vines allowed us to ferment 40% of the fruit as whole clusters, a practice that flattens the fermentation curve, keeps temperatures cool, lengthens the fermentation, and promotes lots of brambly fruit character.  In a world teeming with of overblown Syrah, this stands out as a wine made for pairing with food.  176 cases.

2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

$28 buy

This friendly and peace loving wine is stubborn, but not mean, dense but not unenlightened, rich but not expensive, intense but not aggressive. We think it's a classic - harvested with great balance, red fruit aromatics, with a little American oak and cedar overtones. Fruit from Chandler Reach in Benton City, WA, this is a lover not a fighter. It is peaceful, very peaceful...293 cases.

2009 PETITE SIRAH

$28 buy

Cherry Ort: Black Cherry Dessert Wine 

$28 buy

Half as sweet & twice as interesting as most ports. We pitted & pressed Black Republican Cherries, then fermented with a redunculously alcohol-tolerant eau-de-vie yeast to get this wine to about over 18% ABV with 1.5% residual sugar. It’s intense, luscious, and uniquely delicious.   168 cases