Coming from the incredibly talented team at Alban Vineyards, the 2019 Chardonnay had just been bottled two weeks prior to this tasting, yet it certainly wasn’t any worse for it and showed brilliantly. Aged in new 300-liter barrels, it offers a layered, complex nose of caramelized lemon, brioche, toasted bread, and buttered peach, with some classic salinity on the palate. Medium to full-bodied, it’s beautifully balanced, has perfectly integrated oak, and a great finish. I think it’s the finest vintage I’ve tasted from them.\n Producer Information\n We use the phrase “North Valley†as a geographical reference to the area from which we source, farm and produce our artisan Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and dry Rose. While the “Willamette Valley†appellation describes a fairly large area – almost 160 miles long, and nearly 45 miles at its widest – it is in the much smaller, northern corner of this region where its overall best vineyards are found. Here in the “North Valleyâ€, we work to nurture and craft our artisan wines, honoring the best raw materials that nature has to provide. Further, we seek a noteworthy diversity of sources from within the six sub-appellations of the region, giving us a broad palate of flavors and profiles from which to assemble our blends. So whether it is the Dundee Hills, Ribbon Ridge, the Eola-Amity Hills, Yamhill-Carlton District, Chehalem Mountain area, or McMinnville, we are there, spending time with our growers in their vineyards each week, from flowering all the way through harvest.
