Cutter Cascadia Ashes to Ashes

Surrounded by pear, cherry and apple orchards in the famed Fruit Loop of Hood River, the von Flowtow vineyard is a small block of Dolcetto planted in 2011 and is just surpassing a half acre in size. The elevation here is close to a thousand feet and is located on the western edge of the rain shadow of the Cascade Range, and with that sees a higher than average rainfall for the Columbia Gorge. Dolcetto, a very sensitive cultivar, is put through a trial each season whether it is frost risk, intense winds, drought in the summer or early rains in the fall. A cooler site for Dolcetto than its native Piedmonte, we get what we can get out of this block from a tonnage perspective, but no matter how much it is, it is never enough. While 2021 was the earliest vintage to date with a very dry and hot year, the Dolcetto had more favorable weather at bloom than Hillside in The Dalles. Fruit set was balanced and crop load not too fried by the intense heat in July and August. The weather leveled out in September, and the vineyard was picked on September 28th after a brief rain. The wine was fermented 20% whole cluster and left on the skins for 18 days. Once pressed and settled, the wine was racked into barrel and left on the lees for 9 ½ months.

Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 25 ppm sulfur added at bottling.