La Famiglia Furioso
Wine Club

2019 Blanc de Blanc Sparkling

Introducing the inaugural vintage of our Yamhill-Carlton estate Blanc de Blanc! 100% Chardonnay produced par méthode champenoise, with 33 months en tirage has given us a stunning and elegant sparkling wine. Bright notes of pomelo, granny smith, and white flowers are followed by hints of fresh sage and pastry crust. The palate is equally as refreshing, offering more green apple, lime juice, salinity, and mouthwatering acidity.

Drink now through 2027 | Pair with Scallop Crudo | 11.5 % abv | 100% Chardonnay | 33 months en tirage, 6 g/L dosage | 141 cases produced

2019 Piano Piano Chardonnay

A bright, crystalline lemon in the glass, this second edition of our over-vintaged Chardonnay is here to prove what extra patience and time in barrel can do for this noble grape. For this reserve wine, we start by selecting four neutral oak barrels of Trovato Vineyard Chardonnay and then allow them to age longer than our traditional Chardonnay: 18 months instead of 10. The result is a stunningly complex wine that still maintains plenty of vibrancy. The nose offers an alluring bouquet of lime flower, white peach, and crisp asian pear, followed by some more mature aromas of honeysuckle, granite, and custard. The palate is equally complex – delivering walnut, honey, and lemon tart. There’s a lasting and fresh lemon-lime finish, supported by captivating acidity. 

Drink now through 2030 | Pair with Lobster & Mushroom Risotto | 12.3 % abv | 18 months in 75% neutral French oak, 25% one-year old barrels | 100 cases produced

2019 Trovato Chardonnay

Here is another wine coming from our Trovato Vineyard in Yamhill to your glass. For the second edition of this wine, we decided to add another layer of complexity by fermenting and aging the wine in some premium quality new French oak barrels; as well as some older, neutral barrels. We also included the use of a unique new barrel made of 50% French oak staves and 50% acacia wood staves. The result will be obvious to those of you familiar to our previous Chardonnay releases. 

Aromatically, the wine is bursting with aromas of toasted bread and vanilla, but also Asian pear and notes of lime peel. In the mouth, it displays a great minerality with an elegant and seamless structure.

Drink now through 2028 | Pair with Crab & Fennel Fettuccine | 12.2 % abv | 10 months in 80% neutral, 20% new French oak barrels | 438 cases produced

2019 La Linea Pinot Noir

The brilliantly refreshing 2019 La Linea is the flagship wine from our old-vine Dundee Hills estate vineyard. Bright notes of ripe red cherries, nutmeg, and orange zest fill your glass. The palate brings cranberry, tart blueberry, and hints of clay. With a powerful and mouth-watering acidity, we recommend drinking 2024-2031, or decanting in its youth.

Drink 2024-2033 | Pair with Duck Confit & Braised Lentils

12.5 % abv | 10 months in 75% neutral, 25% new French oak barrels | 251 cases produced

2019 Vincenzo Pinot Noir

A quintessential expression of the Dundee Hills, with aromas of black cherry, strawberry, and balsa wood. The palate is generous, offering rich black plum, fresh sage, and eucalyptus. True to its vintage, the tannins are firm and there is ample acidity. A powerful wine, from a classic Oregon vintage, this will continue to evolve beautifully over the course of the next 10 years.

Drink 2024-2033 | Pair with Lamb & Pork Ragu | 12.5% abv | 100% Free run juice, 10 months in 60% neutral, 40% new French oak barrels | 126 cases produced

2019 L’Altra Pinot Noir

A true cherry color in glass, the 2019 iteration of our L’Altra is ripe with notes of juicy Italian plums, cranberry sauce, and hints of tangerine. Following its fruity beginnings then, is a more rustic backbone of woodsy cedar and fresh rosemary. While young, the palate shows off a wonderfully pure expression of fruit, though never cloying – its notes of luscious rainier cherries, blueberry, and soft cinnamon are livened by a powerful acidity and evolving yet vibrant finish. Representative of its cooler vintage, the 2019 L’Altra demonstrates tremendous ageability and we recommend drinking now through 2030.

Drink 2023-2031 | Pair with Braised Chicken with Lemon and Olives | 12.5 % abv | 10 months in 75% neutral, 25% new French oak barrels | 326 cases produced

Winter fell in love with Oregon in 2022, and seemed to never want to let go. The frost event in early April damaged buds emerging from dormancy and created chaos in the vineyard. Panicking winemakers not only had to worry about the possibility of an unripe crop but also of a small crop. But summer finally arrived, and like winter, it decided to linger in the Willamette Valley longer than usual. Although some sites (like our Dundee estate Furioso Vineyard) reported a low yield, our Trovato Vineyard in Yamhill (higher elevation and a cooler macroclimate meant later budbreak) produced a bumper crop. In fact, 2022 was our biggest harvest at Furioso ever, with 89 tons! The warm and sunny October days allowed our fruit to achieve their full ripeness and all the grapes were safely in the winery before rain finally arrived third week of October.

Fast forwarding over the long days of harvest cellar work with its endless series of pump-overs, punch-down, pressing and barreling down, and here we are now entering a new spring, and a new growing season.

Some of our 2022 wines are already in the bottle (some of them even making their way to your cellar as we speak!) but our Chardonnays and Pinots are still tucked away, enjoying a few more months in barrel before being bottled this August. In February, we bottled the next generation of our sparkling program: 2022 Brut Rosé and Blanc de Blanc. You won’t see these released until at least 2025, but rest assured it will be worth the wait.

Tasting our 2022 wines in barrel, I am impressed with the quality of a vintage which was originally deemed as challenging. I am seeing lots of similarities with 2021: the Pinots are showing rich opulent fruit, and the Chardonnays are vibrant with riper aromatics. Like 2021, it will certainly be a vintage that can be enjoyed in its youth.

As for 2023, the vines right now are still dormant; and that is a good thing as the weather forecast is still reporting nearly freezing temperatures (feels like a repeat of 2022 in a way). Please spare a thought for our Viticulturist Shea and Cellar Master Alex who will be battling those wintery conditions to finish tying-down the canes this week.

And finally, we hope you love this selection of newly released wines! The frizzanté is the newest addition to our portfolio, made in the style of prosecco rosé, intended to be lightly sparkling and enjoyed this year. While we recommend another couple years of aging (at least) for the 2019 Vincenzo and 2021 La Linea, we find that the Melon, Gina, and Pietro are all drinking wonderfully now. And if you’re asking yourself, “what happened to Friulano?” or, “I hope they made rosé this year!” – fret not. They will be released later this spring, after a bit more time in bottle, and our Famiglia will be the first to know.

Thank You, as always, for your continued support,

Dominique Mahé
Winemaker/GM

Giorgio Furioso
Proprietor

Drew Hildebrandt
Hospitality Manager