2020 Hiyu Halo "Spring Ephemeral", Columbia Gorge Red Wine USA

“This parcel of equal parts Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris is located at the top of the hill above the wine tavern. Since the 2018 vintage, we’ve used it to experiment with a way of fermenting wine that takes non-intervention to its logical end. The grapes are placed in the fermenter, sealed, and left untouched for several months, before being exhumed and pressed directly to the barrel. It creates a paler-colored wine, but one in which more of the grapes’ intrinsic energy is retained. It also has the effect of greatly enhancing the perfume, especially the spice components of the aroma.”

The name “Halo” refers to the light effects seen in all the parcels in this part of the vineyard, common because of the dramatic weather coming from Mount Hood.

Grapes: Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, roughly 50-50

Vineyard: Halo, a tiny parcel (.75 acres) of equal parts Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris planted at the top of the hill above the winery

Making of: The hand-harvested grapes are placed in the fermenter, sealed and left untouched as whole clusters for several months. Gravity eventually crushed the grapes as they fermented untended, before being exhumed and pressed directly to the barrel. Hiyu’s “Spring Ephemeral” wines are always bottled in the spring following the vintage, in this case, early June. “The intention with these wines is to preserve CO2 and freshness and age from that energy rather than the reductive energy that is based on the interaction of oxygen, tannin and phenols,” Nate explains. Unfined, unfiltered, tiny dose of SO2 at bottling.