The Light Red Wine is close to equal parts Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from Breezy Slope Vineyard on the eastern rim of the Walla Walla AVA in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  The grapes were lightly foot-trod and cofermented (rather than belended later in the process).  The flavors from the stems and the skins of the Pinot Gris steer this wine toward fresh herbal and citrusy aromas (Linden blossom, crisp apple), which round out the red fruit core from the Pinot Noir (Montmerency cherry).  Cooperage was all neutral French Oak barrels.  This light red wine pairs well with a huge range of foods.  Unlike many red wines, it can work with tart or spicy foods because it has higher acid and very low tannin.  It has enough acid to refresh the palate and cut through richness in heavier meals.  It's probably not my go-to wine for steaks and rich meat stews, but pretty much everything else is worth a try---this is my attempt to craft a close-to-universal food wine... and though I hope you'll enjoy it all year, I should also note that the Light Red Wine does especially well weaving together the wide range of flavors associated with the Fall and Winter holidays.
 

The 2022 Red Wine is a cousin of the earlier vintages of Marginalia Red Wine.  It is still a cofermentation based on Les Collines Vineyard Block 10 Zinfandel.  But this time that accounts for 90% of the blend.  Unlike previous vintages that included whole cluster Pinot Noir, this vintage includes just a small portion of whole cluster Les Collines Block 53 Syrah (10%).  This is stylistically a very similar wine to previous vintages, and the winemaking approach hasn’t changed, but the flavors and aromas have shifted a bit darker.  This wine fermented for about a week before pressing to barrel to limit extraction.  Fermentation finished in neutral American oak barrels.  After a couple months on lees, the wine aged off lees in the same neutral barrels until bottling.  The aromas are more northwest berry fruits than previous vintages (blackberry and salmon berry), and the subtle oak character from used American oak barrels complements the naturally spicy accents of early-picked Zinfandel and Syrah.  Short skin contact leads to low tannin, and early picking gives us plenty of acidity, making this an easy drinking, juicy, light-bodied red wine.  Only 11.5% alcohol by volume, with no residual sugar, and very low sulfite levels.

The Light Red Wine is close to equal parts Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from Breezy Slope Vineyard on the eastern rim of the Walla Walla AVA in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  The grapes were lightly foot-trod and cofermented (rather than belended later in the process).  The flavors from the stems and the skins of the Pinot Gris steer this wine toward fresh juniper-herbal and citrusy aromas, which round out the red fruit core from the Pinot Noir.  Cooperage was all neutral French Oak barrels.  This light red wine pairs well with a huge range of foods.  Unlike many red wines, it can work with tart or spicy foods because it has higher acid and very low tannin.  It has enough acid to refresh the palate and cut through richness in heavier meals.  It's probably not my go-to wine for steaks and rich meat stews, but pretty much everything else is worth a try---this is my attempt to craft a close-to-universal food wine... and though I hope you'll enjoy it all year, I should also note that the Light Red Wine does especially well weaving together the wide range of flavors associated with the Fall and Winter holidays.

The 2021 Red Wine is repeats the experiment from 2020, but in a very different vintage with very different ripening conditions.  Breezy Slope and Les Collines vineyards are only about 2 miles apart on the eastern rim of the Walla Walla AVA, but are separated by 400 feet of elevation.  The result is that the cool-climate-loving Pinot and the heat-loving Zinfandel ripen at about the same pace, enabling us to pick these varieties at the same time and blend the grapes before fermentation to get a head start marrying the flavors.  This wine has the red fruit typical of early picked Zinfandel plus herbaceous notes and structure from the whole cluster Pinot Noir.  The wine aged with a small amount of new Oregon White Oak (Quercus Garryana) in addition to neutral and near-neutral French and American barrels; the oak flavor isn’t strong, but the Zinfandel especially seems to like a little toast and spice in the background.  Acid structures this wine more than tannin, which again makes for a versatile food pairings.

Six bottles of the 2021 Marginalia Wines:

3 x 2021 Light Red Wine

Close to 75/25 Pinot Noir/Pinot Gris; darker and fruitier than previous vintage

Breezy Slope Vineyard, Walla Walla AVA

Whole cluster, cofermented, aged on lees

12.7% ABV

3 x 2021 Red Wine

Close to 50/50 Zinfandel/Pinot Noir; a bit fuller than the previous vintage,

Cofermented from whole cluster Breezy Slope Vineyard Pinot Noir and 

destemmed Les Collines Vineyard Zinfandel, both Walla Walla AVA

13.4% ABV

This wine, a cofermented blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, has become a signature wine for Marginalia.  In 2020 the blend skews hard to Pinot Gris, resulting in a paler color and slightly more grip than the 2019 vintage.  This is a juicy, fruity wine that presents fresh, herbaceous aromas derived from stem inclusion, but without a lot of structuring tannin.  As with previous vintages, this is a great wine to pair with a wide variety of foods including classic American fall and winter holiday foods.

This wine is the most structured of the three 2020 wines, with ample tannin and acidity, and an amber hue in the glass or decanter.  It isn’t particularly aromatic—young Semillon never is—but there’s a whole lot happening on the palate.  Amber wine, sometimes called orange wine, is made by fermenting white grapes on their skins, seeds, and sometimes stems rather than pressing off clear juice before fermentation.  It’s inverted rose: rose is the product of a white wine process applied to red grapes, amber wine is what you get applying a red wine process to white grapes.  In this case we fermented Semillon from Les Collines Vineyard on skins for two weeks before pressing to barrel; this is on the more structured end of the amber wine spectrum, in contrast with the 2019 wine, which was subtler on the palate but more aromatic.  This is versatile wine with food, but it especially shines with heavier foods: cheese, roast pork and pork belly, quiche, etc.

The 2020 Red Wine is a new bottling for Marginalia.  These two vineyards are only about 2 miles apart on the eastern rim of the Walla Walla AVA, but are separated by 400 feet of elevation.  The result is that the cool-climate-loving Pinot and the heat-loving Zinfandel ripen at about the same pace, enabling us to pick these varieties at the same time and blend the grapes before fermentation to get a head start marrying the flavors.  This wine has the red fruit typical of early picked Zinfandel plus herbaceous notes and structure from the whole cluster Pinot Noir.  The wine aged with a small amount of new Oregon White Oak (Quercus Garryana) in addition to neutral and near-neutral French and American barrels; the oak flavor isn’t strong, but the Zinfandel especially seems to like a little toast and spice in the background.  Acid structures this wine more than tannin, which again makes for a versatile food pairings.

Six bottles of the 2020 Marginalia Wines:

2 x 2020 Light Red Wine

Close to 78/22 Pinot Gris/Pinot Noir; lighter color but slightly more exrtracted than previous vintage

Breezy Slope Vineyard, Walla Walla AVA

Whole cluster, cofermented, aged on lees

12.9% ABV

2 x 2020 Amber Wine

100% Semillon

Les Collines Vineyard, Walla Walla AVA

Fully extracted, higher tannin style of amber wine

12.4% ABV

2 x 2020 Red Wine

52% Zinfandel from Les Collines Vineyard

48% Pinot Noir from Breezy Slope Vineyard

Walla Walla AVA

Red fruits, subtle spice from Oregon oak, and juicy acidity

11.5% ABV

The 2019 Light Red Wine is close to equal parts Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from Breezy Slope Vineyard on the eastern rim of the Walla Walla AVA in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  The grapes were lightly foot-trod and cofermented (rather than belended later in the process).  The flavors from the stems and the skins of the Pinot Gris steer this wine toward fresh juniper-herbal and citrusy aromas, which round out the red fruit core from the Pinot Noir.  Cooperage was all neutral French Oak barrels.  This light red wine pairs well with a huge range of foods.  Unlike many red wines, it can work with tart or spicy foods because it has higher acid and very low tannin.  It has enough acid to refresh the palate and cut through richness in heavier meals.  It's probably not my go-to wine for steaks and rich meat stews, but pretty much everything else is worth a try---this is my attempt to craft a close-to-universal food wine... and though I hope you'll enjoy it all year, I should also note that the Light Red Wine does especially well weaving together the wide range of flavors associated with the Fall and Winter holidays.

The 2019 Amber Wine is 100% Marsanne from Rockgarden Vineyard, which sits on the eastern edge of the Rocks area of Milton-Freewater, OR.  Whole clusters fermented for about a week before pressing to finish the last few days of fermentation in barrel.  Cooperage was all neurtral American Oak ex-Chardonnay barrels.  The wine was on lees for most of its elevage, with occasional stirring.  The tannin/phenolic content extracted through the week of fermentation on skins gives the wine a much broader frame than its extrordinarily low alcohol (9.6%) might suggest.  This is a versatile wine; try pairing it wine with grilled or roasted vegetables, beans, and simple, grilled or roasted fish, chicken, and pork dishes.  I like it best cool, but not fridge-cold.

Six bottles of the 2019 Marginalia Wines:

3 x 2019 Light Red Wine

Close to 50/50 Pinot Gris/Pinot Noir; darker and fruitier than previous vintage

Breezy Slope Vineyard, Walla Walla AVA

Whole cluster, cofermented, aged on lees

12.3% ABV

3 x 2019 Amber Wine

100% Marsanne

Rockgarden Vineyard, Walla Walla AVA

Whole cluster fermentation

9.6% ABV