Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017 - 31

DeLille Cellars
With 25 years of experience behind them, the team at DeLille has mastered
the art of the Bordeaux-style blend in Washington State.

Cristom makes savory, energetic pinot noir and chardonnay from four iconic
vineyards in Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills.
An Estate Defined by Its Parts: Burgundy lovers Paul and Eileen Gerrie
founded Cristom in 1992, setting up a winery on the eastern slopes
of the Eola-Amity Hills. Their inspiration was Burgundian producers
like Dujac and Leroy, and they hired Steve Doerner away from California to help them get there. They also assembled four remarkable
vineyards-Marjorie, Eileen, Jessie and Louise-each representing
different exposures, elevations and soil compositions; the vines at all
of them are now at least 20 years old and are hitting their stride. Tom
Gerrie, the founders' son, who now runs the estate, named a fifth
vineyard for his father, Paul; it's in its third leaf.
Vineyard Blends: Cristom's single-vineyard pinot noirs are a force
nearly every vintage. In 2014, the Estate Pinot is exceptional as well:
Drawn from Cristom's four main vineyards, the wine benefits from
both the clonal and vineyard diversity in each, to say nothing of the
vineyards' maturity. It is a dramatically savory wine with an umami
throughline running like a sinewy cord beneath a dark fruit core.
The 2015 Estate Chardonnay, just three barrels from one half-acre,
is a weighty, mineral, deeply satisfying white, whose success Doerner
attributes to vine age and to a renewed commitment to native yeast
fermentation, as well as some additional lees stirring.
The Year of Eileen: Cristom's wine of the year in our tastings came
from Eileen, the estate's highest vineyard at 750 feet, named for Paul
Gerrie's wife. Planted in 1997, it is by far the latest ripening site on
the property, a delay that Doerner feels is exacerbated by its exposure
to the wind at the top of the hill, which gusts up to 25 miles per hour
most evenings. The 2014 is savory, with scents of bergamot and lavender, the cherry fruit generous and ripe, but what really sets it apart
is how it seems to bear the wind's energy in its texture, lean
and propulsive. -P.J.C.

Red Mountain Man: Before their first decade was in the bottle,
Upchurch concluded that no place in the state could beat Red Mountain for sheer intensity of fruit expression. He worked with two of the
AVA's most famous vineyards, Klipsun and Ciel du Cheval, before
planting vines of his own in 2001 at the 15-acre Grand Ciel, followed
in 2007 by Upchurch, an 18-acre vineyard. Nearly all of the winery's
estate production now comes from Red Mountain.
Left and Right Bank Blends: DeLille also works with syrah, which they
blend with cabernet to create Doyenne; in 2014 it's especially lush,
the plummy flavors laced with notes of licorice and chocolate. But
to get the best snapshot of
DeLille, compare their Bordeaux blends from on and
offRed Mountain. D2 is
mostly merlot, with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet
franc. It also relies heavily
on vineyards outside of Red
Mountain (55 percent),
including Harrison Hill and
Jason Gorski & Chris Upchurch
Red Willow. These cooler
old-vine sites may account
for its leafy, cedary scents and nimble, light-toned red fruit. For a
more Left Bank style, open the 2013 Four Flags, the winery's newest
wine, a Red Mountain cabernet sauvignon from Upchurch, Grand
Ciel, Klipsun and Ciel du Cheval. It's a cabernet of exceptional thrust
and supple, blue-fruited magnanimity, the tannins so well
handled that it's charming-not a word often used to
describe Red Mountain wines. -P.J.C.

DETAILS & TOP WINES

Founded: 1992 * Winemaker: Steve Doerner
Viticulturist: Mark Feltz * Owner: Tom Gerrie
Acres owned: 105 * Annual production: 16,000 cases
Estate grown: 80% * Location: Salem, OR
Website: cristomvineyards.com

Founded: 1992 * Winemakers: Jason Gorski, Chris Upchurch
Viticulturists: Dick Boushey, Marshall Edwards, Jim Holmes,
Todd Newhouse, Mike Sauer, Kent Waliser * Owners: Greg Lill,
Pat Lill Jorgenson, Jay Soloff, Chris Upchurch * Acres owned:
31 * Annual production: 25,000 cases * Estate grown: 15%
Location: Woodinville, WA * Website: delillecellars.com

95 2014 Eola-Amity Hills Eileen Vineyard
Pinot Noir $60 (2/17)
93 2014 Eola-Amity Hills Estate Pinot Noir $50 (10/17)
91 2015 Eola-Amity Hills Estate
Chardonnay $40 (10/17)

E OLA -A MITY H ILLS

94 2013 Red Mountain Four Flags Cabernet
Sauvignon $69 (12/16)
94 2014 Columbia Valley D2 $48 (8/17)
91 2014 Yakima Valley Doyenne $42 (8/17)

C OLUMBIA V ALLEY
WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2018

TOP 100 WINERIES 2017

Cristom

Bordeaux Inspired, Washington Bred: Winemaker Chris Upchurch
founded DeLille Cellars in 1992, partnering with father and son Greg
and Charles Lill, and his friend Jay Soloff. They were among the first
in Washington to focus on Bordeaux blends, starting with Chaleur,
predominantly cabernet, and, two years later, adding D2, meant to
mirror the "second" wines of Bordeaux châteaus. In 1995, the team
debuted a white Bordeaux blend, Chaleur Blanc. The vineyards they
singled out are among the oldest and most venerated in the Columbia Valley, like Sagemoor, Red Willow and Harrison Hill, believed to
have the oldest cabernet vines in the valley.

http://www.cristomwineyards.com http://www.delillecellars.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017