Notes from Martin Woods:

The Site: Bednarik vineyard is situated in the far northwest of the Willamette Valley, nestled into the foothills of Oregon's Coast Range near Cherry Grove. The microclimate here is cool and the mature self-rooted vines are patient to ripen. The well-drained marine sediments provide the vines a balanced stress, resulting in naturally-restrained yields, limited canopy growth, and lots of air flow and sun exposure, translating to Pinot noir with concentrated red fruit and distinctively energetic texture. Bednarik always presents wonderfully expressive floral and spice-driven perfume and the palate becomes increasingly silken with age. We are truly privileged to work with three of the eight total acres at this very special, mature vineyard.

The Growing Season: A severe frost in mid-April caused bud damage to early budding young vines at lower elevations throughout the Willamette Valley. Most of our parcels were unaffected because of elevation, slope and air drainage. This frost event was followed by the coldest May in 80 years of record-keeping, which meant that the vines did not flower until mid-July, fully 3-4 weeks behind normal schedule. We did not make up much time over the Summer, which was seasonally dry and warm, As we got into the Fall, a very real sense of concern emerged that we would need an unusally dry, warm late-September and October if we were going to pick grapes at all. If moderate rain and cool temps returned as normal, the grapes simply would not reach proper maturity of flavor and sugar. Thankfully the conditions remained dry and warm until October 22. Ripening rapidly accelerated in mid-October and despite the fact that we had the most compressed harvest ever– we picked almost all of our fruit within one week, Oct. 16-21– the grapes reached a beautiful balance of fruit, acidity and ripe tannin structure. It was a roller-coaster of a growing season that surprisingly (and thankfully) ended very well. We love the wines across the range and we believe that some of the 2022s are amongst the very best wines we've ever produced. 

Winemaking: Picked Oct. 18, 2022. 10% whole clusters layered in small open top fermenters. 25 days total on skins. Once daily punchdowns starting on day 10. Peak fermentation temps 80-82F. Aged without sulfur for 6 months. Aged 18 months total on lees (no stirring) in 228L barrels, average age 3-5 years (0% new oak). Racked carefully and bottled without fining on May 10, 2024. Diam 10 corks. TA 5.1, pH 3.65, RS 0.0 g/L,13.4% Alc.