Last Sunday Gabriele and I attended a tasting featuring Antiquum Farm wines, put on by Grape and Bean in Old Town, Alexandria. Owner and winemaker Stephen Hagen took us through his unique approaches to soil cultivation and winemaking.
By chance we just had enjoyed an Antiquum wine a few weeks ago. We had the 2016 Juel Pinot Noir with dinner at Evening Star Cafe in the Del Ray section of Alexandria. Evening Star also offers a wine shop next door, Planet Wine, and a wine-friendly policy of only charging $10 over retail for any bottle with dinner. We asked Joe behind the register for a Pinot recommendation, and he suggested the Juel. It had amazing fruit for an Oregon Pinot but also had plenty of acidity to match it, with a real presence on the palate without being the least bit heavy.
So when I got an email regarding the tasting, I registered right away. It had been a while since we attended one. But when serendipity like that strikes you just have to go with it.
Hagen views himself as more a farmer than a winemaker. He covered at length what he calls grazing based viticulture, using chickens, goats and geese to control weeds in the vineyards. He told us that soon after purchasing the land with his wife, they decided that being organic wasn’t enough. He began weaning the operation off of using fertilizer, with none being used as of 2010. He’s a passionate believer in the ability of terroir and grapes to become hyper-specialized, saying his wine is nothing like his neighbor’s wine made via more traditional methods right next door.
Hagen said he’s actually seen the Pinot grapes change over the years – skins getting thicker, colors and growth patterns changing. What all this adds up to are wines like the Juel we first tasted – wines that combine strong fruit with high acidity (Brix and Ph to use wine making terms), which is very atypical for Oregon Pinots. Here’s how he described it in the handout:
“Antiquum Pinot Noirs reflect a level of acidity that would traditionally belong to a wine of much lighter and ethereal fruit. The fruit spectrum of these wines would typically belong in a Pinot devoid of natural acidity and frame. These two components happening simultaneously and naturally is something that is just not supposed to happen.”
In many ways I heard echoes of what Ken Wright said about Oregon Pinot Noir at an event we attended last year. The wines are quite different, but Wright also talked about winemakers “getting out of the way” as much as possible and letting the land develop the wine in its own natural way.
In addition to the 2017 Juel Pinot Noir, we tasted a 2017 Pinot Gris that we liked a lot more than a typical Gris. Our favorite wine from the tasting was the 2017 Luxuria Pinot Noir. All the grapes for this wine come from a one acre plot, and the wine is just beautiful. It’s big and delicious, while also being clean and smooth on the palate. Dark cherry leads the fruit, with strange (for Pinot) citrus fruits lurking in the background.
Hagen said all the Pinots would be even better if put down for 3-5 years. We won’t be able to wait that long. If you want a special Pinot that will surprise anyone who thinks they know Oregon wine, I highly recommend something from Antiquum Farm.