Ovum Old Love 2023

Established in 2011 by Ksenija and John House, Ovum was founded in hopes of producing Oregon white wines that are honest reflections of time and place. Their low-intervention production method is a commitment to letting the vintage and vineyard shine, not the vintner. Their top priority is finding farmers that share our beliefs, and then getting out of the way so their hard work can be tasted. Their hands-off techniques allow for the expression of native yeasts, with no additions or alterations made to the wine save for a small amount of sulfur to ensure stability in the bottle. Old Love is inspired by early 1800’s winemaking in Austria. They harvested various varietals and fermented them together, much as was traditional in Portugal and parts of Spain. They then applied aging system to the ferment in order to express a deeper, more rounded personality. After soaking on the skins, the wine is pressing into amphora, Austrian oak casks, cement eggs, and neutral barrels. After approximately a month, the separate wines are combined together in stainless steel. 35% of the resulting blend is placed back into amphora, cask, egg, and barrel. This process is repeated three times. Much like the solara aging of sherry, the carrying of different threads of wine from batch to batch allows the unique expression of each fermentation vessel to shine through. The finished wine is golden and saline, with a textural body and an array of citric tones, from fresh lemon to lemon grass.

Willamette, Eola-Amity, Columbia Gorge, and Southern Oregon

Aligoté, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Early Muscat, Albariño, Roussanne, Pinot Blanc

Native yeast, minimal intervention, amphora aging, practicing organic and biodynamic.