2018 Penner Ash Chardonnay Willamette

2018 Penner Ash Chardonnay Willamette

2018 Penner Ash Chardonnay Willamette This wine is driven by bright acidity overlaid on top of a solid foundation of fruit, sourced from premier sites across the region to incorporate the unique terroirs of our region’s sub-AVAs.

Penner-Ash Wine Cellars embodies the spirit and passion of small producers focusing on Pinot Noir in the northern Willamette Valley, Oregon. After working for some of Napa’s premier wineries and Rex Hill Vineyards in Oregon, winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash and her husband, Ron, started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars in 1998. In the winery, the focus is on small-lot indigenous yeast fermentation with extended cold soaks to extract a rich, fruit-focused, textured mouth feel. Each lot is treated individually and depending on the outcome, either blended into their reserve quality Willamette Valley Pinot Noir or bottled separately as a vineyard designate.

90 Robert Parker: The 2018 Chardonnay Willamette Valley has a savory nose of baked apples, beeswax and baker’s yeast with touches of dried herbs. The medium-bodied palate is silky and super fresh with crunchy, uplifted fruits and an energetic finish.

Willamette Valley Wine

One of Pinot Noir’s most successful New World outposts, the Willamette Valley is the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines.

Mountain ranges bordering three sides of the valley, particularly the Chehalem Mountains, provide the option for higher-elevation vineyard sites.

The valley’s three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals.