St Innocent Sparkling Releases 2024
The St. Innocent winery, founded by Mark Vlossak is 1988, is home to some terrific Willamette Valley varieties, with a focus on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The winery, being highly traditional, focuses on single vineyard expressions, and in this arena they excel. They are also crafting small production, handcrafted sparkling wines inspired by the famous French regions of Alsace and Champagne. With the assistance of his daughter Makenzie, who is emersed in on-going training to assume full winemaking responsibilities when Mark retires, these two are hitting it out of the park with their sparklers. Crafting sparkling wines is a bona fide labor of love, and these wines embrace that ethos. The time commitment is enormous, but these wines “sparkle” with their authenticity and expression of both variety and region.
These wines are crafted in miniscule quantities and are available winery direct, so if you’re looking to secure some get online at Visit – St. Innocent Winery (stinnocentwine.com), and get what you can.
2020 St Innocent, Willamette Valley Sparking Wine, Crémant d’Innocent (RT93) With its glowing platinum hue, this delivers fine bubbles and a bouquet that embraces fresh lemon curd, ripe white peach, honeysuckle, chalk dust and a pinch of flakey pastry dough. The palate has generous rich fruit and is layered with fresh acidity. This is a beautiful sparkler, showing the potential of Willamette Valley’s ability to deliver terrific bubbles, of course with the implicit assistance of the great winemaking Team at St Innocent. Drink now-2033 Tasted September 2024
This bottling is 100% Pinot Blanc and crafted from grapes grown at the Freedom Hill vineyard. It is produced using the méthode traditionnelle. The hand-picked grapes are pressed gently, fermented in stainless and then rest on lees for 9 months. During secondary fermentation it is hand riddled, aged for 27 months and then disgorged. 137-12 bottle cases were produced, typically available at the winery and through their website, $50 directly from the winery.
2019 St Innocent, Willamette Valley Sparking Wine, Crémant Rosé (RT92+) With its deep rose hue, the 2019 Crémant Rosé starts out subdued and tight, but as it gently warms it opens impressively showing strawberry, fresh red raspberry, a hint of quince, a pinch of lemon pith and a dusting of minerality. The palate is rich and robust, showing caressing fruit and bright acidity. This is the most masculine of the three sparklers but still hangs on to its feminine traits, which I find highly attractive. Drink now-2029(+?) Tasted September 2024
A blend of 90% Pinot Blanc and 10% Pinot Noir, the single vineyard fruit is sourced from the Freedom Hill cru. Crafted in an Alsatian style, grapes are fermented to complete dryness in stainless, then rests on lees for 9 months. During secondary fermentation it is hand riddled, aged for 39 months and then disgorged with 1% dosage. 148-12 bottle cases were produced, typically available at the winery and through their website, $60 directly from the winery.
2018 St Innocent, Willamette Valley Sparking Wine, Blanc de Blancs, Freedom Hill (RT94) The medium straw yellow, single vineyard 2018 Blanc de Blancs reveals smokey notes of lemon, green apple, cold butter, flint and brioche. With time in the glass the smokiness is amplified. The palate is packed with delicious, mouth coating fruit with an attractive, ever so-slightly sweet core, offset with lovely acidity and a long finish. This is a fine effort reinforcing Mark Vlossak’s commitment to the art, and is hand crafted in minuscule quantities. Drink 2024-2028 Tasted September 2024
This 100% Chardonnay sparkling wine is crafted from grapes grown at the Freedom Hill vineyard and is produced using the méthode traditionnelle. The hand-picked grapes are picked early at a time when acidity is high, then pressed gently, indigenously fermented in acacia cask and rests on its lees for 9 months. During secondary fermentation it is hand riddled, aged for 51 months and then disgorged with 3 g/l dosage. 141-12 bottle cases were produced, typically available at the winery and through their website, $70 directly from the winery.