2019 Adelsheim Vineyard Chardonnay Staking Claim Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley 750 ml

Driving around Oregon’s Willamette Valley and talking to winemakers, one thing is on everyone’s mind: their outstanding Chardonnay.

There in blind-tasting after blind-tasting, it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish top Willamette Chard from their Burgundy counterparts and Adelsheim is helping lead the charge—just like they’ve done throughout the history of the region’s viticulture.

When you talk about storied Oregon producers, Adelsheim is always at the front of the list—they’ve been on Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries list a whopping seven times. 

David Adelsheim established his eponymous winery in 1971, when the notion of Willamette Valley wine was so much of an experiment, that the idea was laughable to connoisseurs of the era. He then became the first winery in what would become the Chehalem Mountains AVA a few years later, and has been one of the essential producers in that corner of the WIllamette Valley ever since.

In the throwback 2019 vintage, Adelsheim crafted their Staking Claim Chardonnay from sites across the Chehalem Mountains. The sub-region of the Willamette Valley is known for its steep hillsides and varied soils, and this includes grapes grown on volcanic soils, which adds delicate fruit and silky textures like those in the famous Dundee Hills; marine sediments, which produces structured wines like in nearby Ribbon Ridge; and windblown loess, a powdery soil that seems to contribute salinity and breadth in the bottle.

The team harvested grapes at a perfect balance between golden-tinged apple fruit and zesty brightness, and then fermented and aged their juice in French oak—only about a third of which were new—before moving the wine to stainless steel tanks a year later. The result is perfectly balanced, exciting Chardonnay.