Vinous Obscura ‘Grand Bazaar’ Orange Wine
WHY WE LOVE IT
- The wine ‘Grand Bazaar’ by Golden Cluster evokes the familiar aromas of walking through bazaars in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, or Turkey.
- ‘Grand Bazaar’ wine is an orange wine that is a co-fermentation blend made from seven unique grape varieties sourced from a single vineyard.
- The grapes are grown in loess soils on the hills behind Forest Grove, Oregon, at an elevation of 425 feet.
- The vines are ten years old.
- Vegan-friendly.
Varietal: Syrah, Viognier
Elaboration: Hand harvested. Fermentation is Native/indigenous in 1200L Oval Cask vessels. No fining or filtration. Aged in bottle 5 months prior to release.
Tasting Notes: This wine is made using low-intervention farming techniques. The grapes were hand-picked on the same day and co-fermented on their skins for 14 days until fermentation was complete. During this fermentation period, a 5-gallon bucket of spent Syrah and Viognier skins was added to enhance the color and aromatics. After fermentation, the wine was pressed and aged for 30 months in a combination of mostly acacia puncheons and a small amount of French oak. The wine is unfiltered and unfined.
PRESS
2020 – 90 James Suckling
2021 – 90 James Suckling
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
The Vinous Obscura brand from Golden Cluster is centered around grapes sourced from two experimental nurseries and vineyards. One is on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge and the other in Forest Grove in the Northern Willamette Valley.
There are over 200 different grape varietals between both vineyards. In some cases, these are the first ever plantings of these grapes in the USA, others are the first on the West Coast, some are rare clones. This grower has decades of grape growing and winemaking experience in New York state and belongs to a network of growers and academic organizations who work together to establish the viability of certain grapes in different soils, climates, and regions. Golden Cluster is making some of the first commercial wines from these rare grapes.
Golden Cluster, of Willamette Valley, Oregon is the vision of owner/winemaker Jeff Vejr. Established in 2013, all of Vejr’s wines are produced under the Golden Cluster umbrella, but Golden Cluster also represents some individual wineries throughout the area.
Today, Veijr produces his wines at the David Hill Winery, which was originally the Charles Coury Vineyard & Winery, one of the first vineyards planted in Willamette Valley after Prohibition. David Hill provides him with the “uncommon grapes” he sources and most of these were planted between 1966-72. The Golden Cluster name is a nod to the memory of Charles Coury and the Semillon grape variety.