2019 LINGUA FRANCA BUNKER HILL ESTATE BOTTLED WILLAMETTE VALLEY CHARDONNAY

2019 LINGUA FRANCA "BUNKER HILL" ESTATE BOTTLED, CHARDONNAY, WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON. 100% Chardonnay.

About: Lingua Franca is a joint venture between Master Sommelier Larry Stone, Dominique Lafon of Burgundy, and business partner David Honig based in the Eola Amity Hills of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. The Name “Lingua Franca" is a universal language that can bring people from diverse backgrounds together sharing a moment of pleasure. Lingua Franca, named after the Franks, was a universal language in the Middle Ages that could be understood by all and was used along the trade routes. It was the language of diplomacy and brought people together from diverse cultures. Lingua Franca also means to "speak frankly," directly, just as our wines aim to speak directly of their terroir, their place.

In 2010, while Larry Stone was working at Evening Land in the Willamette Valley, he began negotiations for the 150-acre Janzen Farm, located in the Eola-Amity Hills. The prized east-facing site enjoys a 300-foot elevation gain, boasts favorable Nekia, Gelderman and Jory soils, and rubs shoulders with the likes of Argyle’s Lone Star, Domaine Serene's Jerusalem Hill and Evening Land's Seven Springs vineyards. The beginning of all great wine is a vineyard with a unique, complex and exceptional expression of place. It must be capable of expressing flavors in a way that pleases and surprises. Sites like these are hard to define and even harder to acquire. Because of its pedigree, the history of its neighbors, and the conditions it shares with its illustrious neighbors, it seemed like a place destined for greatness.

It was important from the beginning to respect the biome, the native flora and fauna. Thoughtful farming was one part of it. No-till farming with a permanent cover crop improves soil structure and increases microbial and mycorrhizal activity. (Winery)