Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Marsanne : White Rhones in Washington State
Getting bored with Chardonnay? Check out Washington State’s emerging Rhone white varietals.
Working with white Rhone varietals, you can produce a white wine with a cacophony of ripe aromas and flavors. The honey, spice, and citrus of Rhone varietals is a most welcome alternative if you’re growing bored with the butter and mineral flavors of Chardonnay.
Cofermenting with Syrah
Most of the world’s greatest Syrah based wines come from the Northern Rhone and most of those Syrahs are cofermented with white grapes. This has the counter-intuitive effect of stabilizing color and increasing freshness. Here are the legal limits for blending white grapes in Northern Rhone AOC red wines.
Cote-Rotie – Up to 20% Viognier.
Crozes- Hermitage – Up to 20% Marsanne and Roussanne.
Hermitage – Up to 20% Marsanne and Roussanne .
St. Joseph – Up to 10% Marsanne and Roussane.
Each pail includes 5 gallons of grape must
Product will arrive partially frozen.
Ribbon Ridge AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Brix: TBD , pH: TBD , TA: TBD g/L , YAN: TBD mg/L
(Full ETS Lab Report will be provided after harvest)
Harvest October 2025 (Estimated)
Lichtenwalter Vineyard - Planted 2005
The Ribbon Ridge AVA is all about growing Pinot Noir in Ancient Marine Sedimentary soils. It’s the smallest AVA in Oregon and is located entirely within the Chehalem Mountains AVA, which in turn is located entirely within the Willamette Valley AVA.
The Lichtenwalter Vineyard sits at 300-500 feet in elevation and is planted in a south eastern orientation to promote even ripening. The vineyard is neighbors with Beaux Freres, Patricia Green, and Trisateum. It is LIVE Certified, Salmon Safe, and Organically grown (but not certified).
The Ribbon Ridge AVA is known for it’s high scoring Pinot Noirs, but it’s really the dirt that makes it special.
“Ribbon Ridge is a distinct, natural, geological formation of eastward-tilted marine sedimentary strata dated to 40 to 50 million years ago. Because the ridge is ancient and stable, the soils from these fine sedimentary parent materials are well weathered and consequently are, on average, deeper in profile and more finely structured than soils in surrounding areas.
Unlike the Chehalem Mountains AVA and Yamhill-Carlton AVA , the soils of Ribbon Ridge are entirely derived from marine sedimentary parent materials. They are finer in average texture due to their finer parent materials of very fine sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone.
The soils generally exhibit good water-holding capability, but are not overly generous in nutrients, tending to restrain vine canopy vigor while maintaining good health, even in non-irrigated vineyards. Underground waters for irrigation and other large-scale uses are not readily available on Ribbon Ridge which tends to limit excess vine growth.” - RibbonRidgeAVA.org