www.tesoaria.com Roseburg Vineyard & Winery 512 N. Curry Rd., Roseburg, OR 97471 (541) 671-7956 Portland Tasting Room 4003 N. Williams Ave., Portland, OR 97212 (971) 229-0050 MARCH NEWSLETTER 2014 John Olson - Founder/Winemaker As we begin our 6th leaf as a winery, I am still amazed and in awe of what it all means. The history of vinification is an epic tale and I am honored and humbled to be but a few small words in this chapter of Oregon winemaking. Our brand is growing as is our influence in the state. TeSoAria is now in the top 25% of producers and continues to grow thanks to the Wine Club Pick Up Parties! Portland Tasting Room -March 15th, from noon to 10pm. Roseburg Vineyard & Winery - March 22nd, from 2pm to 9pm.
generous support of our wine club family and friends. We now have over 1050 active wine club memberships representing more than 2100 wine club members. Joy and I recently sat down and took a good, hard look of how far we have come as a brand and as a family; something we have not had the time or luxury to do as we have put all of our efforts looking forward. As a brand we have grown in size, but more importantly, as a family we have grown exponentially. First to my kids, Johnny, Rebekah, and Priscilla THANK YOU for getting all of this started in not much more than a garage, no equipment, not a lot of resources, but a huge dream of being part of the winemaking story. To our Family of staff THANK YOU for caring as much as you do in striving to get it right, every day and 100% of the time. To our family of growers, THANK YOU for putting up with me and my at times unreasonable expectations. To our family of Wine Club members and friends, THANK YOU for being the BEST CHEERING SECTION IN THE WORLD!! Details coming soon! Wine Vocabulary Ullage - From the French word, ouillage. The air space between the cork and the wine in the bottle. Sometimes described as "the fill level". When bottling, a proper ullage is quite important. Too little air space doesn't allow microoxygenation which is needed for development of red wine. Too much air space can cause oxidation. At the Portland Tasting Room, notice when we hand bottle wines how we pay attention to ensure that each bottle has the proper Ullage! 2013 was coined the endless summer by the crew. It was our earliest start, picking Cooper Ridge Pinot Noir on Labor Day in shorts and tank tops. Crush finished the last week of October in rain gear, with Syrah from Cooper Ridge. The mid-september rains delayed picking the grapes and was a source of great concern for flavor dilution and disease. Thanks to our great growers and staff, we were able to work together thru the adversity to come up with yet another win. The harvest totaled at 85 tons (enough to do roughly 7000 cases) not bad considering our first harvest yielded enough to do 800. The grapes and wines are absolutely phenomenal with our 2013 whites (Cooper Ridge Viognier) winning Best of Show at the Portland Seafood and Wine Festival. Their 2013 Syrah is a pepper bomb, you're invited to the winery for a barrel tasting - man is it hot!!! This year also marks several first's in our winemaking journey. We just bottled our first Gamay Beaujolais (from the estate), Gruner Veltliner, Viognier,
Arneis (in the Bella Bianca). At the festivals, our wines continue to win many awards including 2 Best of Show 8 Gold Medals, 9 Silver, and 8 Bronze. We are on track to becoming Oregon s most awarded winery 3 consecutive years. Again, I am in awe but as I always say, great wines are made in great vineyards grown by great people. Additionally, I have the BEST production staff in Oregon who truly strives to make the wine into what it truly wants to be. Our first bottling went exceedingly well thanks to our staff and army of volunteers who helped us.the two day bottling totaled 2200 cases of delicious Southern Oregon wine. We bottled 2013 Vermentino, Bella Bianca, Bella Rosa, Gruner Veltliner, Viognier, Riesling, Late Harvest Riesling, a new white blend (yet to be named), Bulls Blood, Primitivo, and Baco Noir many of these will be available for the March Wine Club selection. Our tasting room in Portland is a smash hit thanks to our great staff and neighbors in North Portland. I have to say, the folks in that area are some of them most neighborly people I have had the pleasure to meet. They are adamant supporters of local family owned business's and I am truly thankful for their generous support. The events (brunch, special pairings) and just everyday hanging out at the tasting room have been a lot of fun and I have met some absolutely FASCINATING people. I can t wait until the weather gets nice and we can open the 3 overhead doors and enjoy wine outdoors, Portland style! I have a surprise for our Roseburg friends and wine club members just around the corner. I can t speak yet to the details, but if all goes to plan, we will soon be able to do host many additional events similar to those we are doing in Portland (a chef, tapas, menu, food and wine pairing). The location is one of the most beautiful / picturesque settings in Southern Oregon (or maybe the entire state) so stay tuned
Dan and Asher have been very busy getting everything ready for a Spring planting at the estate. An additional 5-7 acres will be planted with some unique varieties well suited to the terroir and climate of Southern Oregon. If you have ever been interested in seeing how a grape plant starts its life, please come out any weekday in March and we will be happy to show you how it's done and they will probably hand you a shovel to help!! It will be another action-packed, eventful year. Please take a look at the new website for details for all of the winery / tasting room related events that will be happening throughout 2014 If drinking wine is my pleasure, making wine is my journey. Please take a look John Olson A few words from Amy Ashby General Manager Do over Every vintage is a do over. You agonize over every possible imperfection and then look forward. It is not so much that you feel you were unsuccessful. The thing is once the wines are in the bottle they are what they are and your mind goes to the future. As a team member my mind is focused on the future, always building, on past vintages. Vintages are experiences, part of a voyage, not just end results. I have no favorite vintages just treasured
experiences. The vines are now being pruned in the vineyards and the cycle that is agriculture begins again. In many ways it is comforting to work in a world governed by such a precise metronome. You know how you got here and where you're going. The wintery bark-like vineyards are starting to come to life. The days are beginning to lengthen, the air is warming up and the vines are starting to respond by pushing new growth. This can be a worrisome time as a late spring frost can destroy new bud growth and devastate the year s crop so we keep a watchful eye on the weather. The vines in warmer regions like Southern Oregon are among the first to see new young buds which will gradually shoot into leaves and vines, and voila, into clusters of grapes. The beginning of bud break signals the start of the 2014 grape growing season, which will unfold over the next six months and culminate with the fall harvest. Spring temperatures are typically mild and the Umpqua Valley still has its lush green winter colors, making it a beautiful time to visit Tesoaria Vineyard & Winery and pack a picnic, bring along some friends to introduce them to our awardwinning wines What makes me happy? The limitless potential of Oregon makes it one of the most exciting wine regions in the world. This is a region where you can argue the best vineyards have not even been planted yet. It's a brave new world with nowhere to go but up. The growing appreciation of wines with a more balanced, restrained style is exciting. While for the most part this reawakening of taste has not enlightened old-school wine media yet, new wine media is all over it. The old guys better wake up or get left in the dust. The exciting, exploding community of wine lovers on social media. Finally small wineries can actually have a marketing edge over corporate wineries. After all, real people are a lot more fun to have a conversation with.
What I am happiest about is how far we've come with our wines. They are so, so much better. Uplifting wines that are refreshing and elegant. While I know I will always think we can do better no matter how great the vintage, these are wines I am proud of sharing with anyone. Do over? Not really, each vintage is a new beginning. How lucky are we?