Join us this Wednesday (4pm-8pm) to help Humble Vine welcome in an amazing natural winery fromWillamette Oregon : Johan Vineyards!! Our guest pourer will explain the nuances of the vines and the wines they produce. Johan vineyards practices Biodynamic farming and minimal intervention. They want to provide the wines a background of expression, rather than bend the juice to the will of the winemaker.

Click for Johan Vineyards Website

Here is a small blurb.....

"Rather than striving for stylistic preference, we seek balance and energy in our wines. This energy is a mystery to us and we seek to both understand and harness its power. Our observations lead us to believe this energy exists in wines that are made from organic fruit sources combined with wild fermentations with minimal intervention. For this reason we farm our vineyards and craft our wines using organic and Biodynamic® methods. Natural winemaking is our first priority." - Johan Vineyards

And Here is the LineUp:

Johan, Petillant Natural Sparkling Pinot Noir, $25

Pétillant Naturel is a method of producing sparkling wine, also referred to as “Methode Ancestrale”, where the carbonation occurs from bottling the wine during the primary, alcoholic fermentation – in order to capture the carbon dioxide that is being naturally released. This sparkling rosé was made from all estate-grown, Demeter certified Biodynamic® Pinot Noir grapes. The fruit was picked relatively early, at lower sugars and higher acidity, for a fresh and juicy expression from our site. After 24 hours of skin contact, the grapes were pressed and fermented in a stainless steel tank before it was bottled at the tail end of its primary fermentation on October 26, 2016. Bottled unfiltered and contains lees – pour off slowly or invert to evenly distribute.

Farmlands, Pinot Gris, $20

This beautiful Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is 100% estate fruit from Johan Vineyards. You may recognize Johan Vineyards as the biodynamically farmed source of some outstanding Pinots from Brianne Day and Bow & Arrow. "Farmlands" is Johan Vineyards' own entry-tier bottling and it totally over-delivers. This estate-grown, naturally made wine offers delicious aromas and flavors of fresh bing cherry, black cherry and rocky earth. Bright acidity keeps everything in check, leading to a clean and vibrant finish. Simply delicious, and a steal for the price.

Johan, Gruner Veltliner $26

The varietal character of Grüner Veltliner is intense and highly unique. There is a range of fruit maturity with which this grape can be harvested to lend itself to an array of different styles. The resulting wines can vary from lean and herbal, to highly textured and exotic smelling, depending on the vineyards ability to ripen the fruit. Our site produces fruit that wants to be rich and exotic, producing significant texture for its meager alcohol levels. We prefer this style for our own taste and encourage it by aging the wine in larger format oak puncheons for 10 months with full solids. 

This Grüner is made entirely from our estate-grown grapes. The grapes were crushed and destemmed before pressing. The juice was then barrel fermented with native yeasts (both primary and malolactic) in 500 liter French oak puncheons, and aged sur lie (without stirring) for 10 months.

Johan, Visdom Chardonnay, $37

The focus of the Visdom (wisdom in Norwegian) bottling lies in secondary and tertiary aromatic development in Chardonnay. With extended aging prior to bottling we see a decline in fruit and an increase in vineyard expression. After 18-22 months of aging in barrique, the wine is bottled with a small amount of fine lees. This allows the wine to stay in contact with the lees, acting as a natural antioxidant while taking advantage of the complexities that develop with late stage yeast autolysis. 

This wine was barrel fermented with native yeasts in French oak (40% new) and aged sur lie for 21 months, allowing it to finish native malolactic fermentation. It was bottled unfiltered, with a small addition of fine lees, then bottle aged for another year prior to its release.

Johan, Estate Pinot Noir, $31

The goal behind the Estate bottling is to make a wine that is representative of the entire farm as a whole. We achieve this by selecting small parcels of fruit from every combination of rootstock/scion, slope, soil profile, and vine age on the property. We keep all lots separate through vinification and aging to evaluate and learn how each parcel performs over the different vintages. We then bring them together for a harmonious blend in the bottle, full of nuance and complexity. This bottling is always the most representative of the growing year and is the most accurate representation of Johan Vineyards’ true terroir. 

This Pinot Noir was made from all 10 clones of Pinot Noir grown in our estate vineyards. The grapes were fermented using exclusively native yeast (both primary and malolactic), with approximately 45% whole-cluster. The wine was aged for 10 months in French oak barrels, 28% of which were new.

Johan, Nils Pinot Noir, $36

The Nils bottling was created out of an interest to capture a specific expression from our estate. This barrel selection focuses on highlighting those barrels that exude characteristics of power and weight, leading to a more masculine expression of Pinot Noir from our site. The goal is to accentuate dark fruit and earthy base notes in the Nils bottling. With the Nils we seek power and elegance, through balance and complexity. 

The grapes were fermented using exclusively native yeast (both primary and malolactic), with approximately 38% whole-cluster. The wine was aged for 18 months in French oak barrels, 25% of which were new.