Grochau Cellars

Oregon
USA
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Grochau Cellars

Oregon
USA
USA
PRODUCER
John and Kerri Grochau
ESTABLISHED
2002
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic, Sustainable
REGION
Oregon
USA
CITY / VILLAGE
CLIMATE
Maritime
ELEVATION
SIZE

About

Grochau Cellars was founded in 2002 with the goal of producing wines true to their terroir with minimal intervention and manipulation of winemaking technique. Grochau Cellars is the project of John Grochau and his wife Kerri. After more than 13 years working as a sommelier in Portland, John made the leap into winemaking, first at Oregon pioneer Erath and then as Doug Tunnel’s assistant at the esteemed Brick House Wines for four years.

With vineyard selection, Grochau seeks out vineyards dedicated to non-interventionist farming techniques (organic when feasible, sustainably focused, environmentally sensitive) and work closely with the growers so that their fruit sources can become the wines Grochau strives to make. In the cellar the philosophy is pretty simple. As John says “Don’t screw it up. Resist the urge to do too much.” Modern winemakers have such an array of options available to them it’s staggering. Micro-oxygenation. Wine concentrators. Enzyme addition. Not to mention the temptation so many indulge to beat an otherwise fine wine over the head with a battery of new oak. Grochau eschews all this. Minimal handling, native yeast fermentation, no enzyme additions, minimal use of new oak: these are the hallmarks of their wines. Honest, accurate, true to their roots and to the wonderful subtleties of vintage variation.

Products

Pinot Noir Commuter Cuvee

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Sustainable
DETAILS

Sustainable. Sourced from 8 different Willamette Valley vineyards, all farmed organically or sustainably, with an emphasis on the more floral, delicate side of Pinot Noir. Hand-picked, sorted, and de-stemmed and placed in stainless steel for a 4 day cold soak. Native yeast fermentation with no additions. Aged for 7.5 months on its lees in 90% used French oak and 10% stainless steel and then racked directly to tank just prior to bottling.

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Pinot Noir Willamette

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Organic. The Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a blend of five Vineyards: 30% Bjornson, 30% Finnegan Hill, 20% Cancilla, 15% Zenith, and 5% Anderson Family, all of which farm organically. Grapes were sorted and mostly destemmed; 25% of the grapes went into the fermenter whole cluster, and 20% were fermented in New French Oak. Because it was cool in the cellar, we let the grapes cold-soak for a week. Fermentation began spontaneously. The wine was barrel aged for 18 months in a mix of new and neutral barrels. 600 cs produced.

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Etheric Wine Workshop Pinot Noir

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Sustainable
DETAILS

Organic/Certified Sustainable. 100% Pinot Noir. Blend of 2 vineyards in Eola Amity Hills: Witness Tree (Eola Amity) Zenith ( LIVE certified). The soils are Nekia (volcanic) and marine sedimentary. Fully destemmed (20 ppm so2 added then). Pied de Cuve added day after picking. A mix of punch-down and pump-over for cap management and left on the skins for 9 days. Drained and pressed the fermentations while they still had sugar, and the wine finished its primary fermentation in a stainless steel tank. 80% of the wine aged in 50 HL concrete tank, 20% neutral French oak barrels for 4.5 months. Bottled with no so2. Free SO2 <5 mg/l.

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Etheric Wine Workshop Skin Contact Pinot Gris

TYPE
Still / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Gris, Chardonnay
FARMING PRACTICE
Sustainable
DETAILS

Sustainable. This is the Italian Ramato style of Pinot Gris, a light “red” wine with waxy phenolic structure. The grapes are sourced from 5 different vineyards which are on both volcanic and sedimentary soils. All of the Pinot Gris is in contact with the skins for some amount of time. For 30% of the grapes, we simply foot tread the grapes in their picking bins and let them rest for 24 hours under a veil of co2 to keep the oxygen away. After 10-12 days they then pressed the grapes and fermented the juice in stainless steel tanks. The remaining 70% of the grapes are hand sorted and fully destemmed into small fermenters. The fermentation is started with a “pied de cuve”, we manage the fermentation with a mix of punch down, pump over and delestage. The wines finish fermentation in stainless steel tanks, then they are racked off the fermentation lees to another tank where they complete malolactic fermentation on fine lees. The wines are aged 3 months before bottling. Since there is no so2 in this wine, we go to bottle with a fair amount of co2 bound in the wine. We also keep the wine slightly reductive in order to preserve the fruit. Bottled with no added so2. <5 So2 mg/L

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Pinot Noir 'Le Rouler' Willamette Valley

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Sustainable
DETAILS

Organic (both certified and practicing)/Certified Sustainable. A blend of 5 vineyards from around the Willamette Valley, mostly from the Eola-Amity Hills (Bjorson, Witness Tree, Vivid, Carlton Hill, Cherry Grove). Mostly volcanic (75%) with some sedimentary soil (25%). The intent behind this wine is to blend a wine that shows a bit more power and intensity than the Commuter Cuvee, but with the purity of fruit that we like all of our wines to have. We ferment with a good amount of whole clusters (around 25%) and aged the wine for 10 months in French oak (25% new).

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