2021 Bergström “La Spirale” Pinot Noir, Ribbon Ridge, Oregon, USA

ABOUT THIS WINE

La Spirale means “the vortex” which is a universal symbol of creation and formative life-giving forces. This is the name that we have given to our newest estate vineyard, planted by the Redman family in 2005 and purchased by our family in 2018. The acquisition of La Spirale allowed Bergström Wines to move away from purchasing fruit and become a 100% estate grown winery. The first commercial vintage from this great terroir was the 2018 vintage. They took over all farming in 2019 and have been converting the vineyard over to our estate-wide regenerative ecological approach since that time, with wonderful results.

Few appellations in North America evoke such sentiment and passion for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as the Ribbon Ridge AVA. This narrow, ancient, oceanic hillside, only 6 square miles in totality, has been the home to some of Oregon’s finest bottlings of wine. And although Bergström Wines is well known as our namesake vineyard in the Dundee Hills and our winery sits proudly in the Chehalem Mountains, the majority of the estate acreage we farm lies in the Ribbon Ridge AVA.

La Spirale is a long and undulating, sandy slope facing south and tilting to the west. This beautiful terroir is framed by forest on three sides and is a complex patchwork of marine sedimentary sands with over 14 identifiable soil types, making this a complicated vineyard to farm. In the wintertime, when there are no leaves on the vines and the cover crop is sparse on the ground, you can see the sandy soil color change from black to brown to orange, yellow, khaki and white, row by row.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Bergström Wines, a first-generation American family business, is one of the most unique and lauded domains in the Willamette Valley. Dr. John Bergström’s Swedish heritage and the love he developed for the Pacific Northwest are the roots of this estate. In 1999, John and his son, Josh, established Bergström Wines. Today, Josh and Caroline, his wife and business partner, are celebrating 24 years as biodynamic growers of estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards on the finest appellations within Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Their farming program consists of five monopole, biodynamic estate vineyards spanning 70 acres across three of the Willamette Valley’s finest and most exclusive AVA’s. Each vine is farmed without harsh fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or systemic fungicides. Instead, Josh and his farming team focus on homemade compost, homeopathic herbal and mineral teas, and regenerative agricultural practices that coax maximum expression from the unique terroir.