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Cliff Creek Cellars 2015 MRV
A legacy of hard work.
Vern Garvin could've retired, but he decided at age 70 to add one more business to his portfolio - a vineyard. The family's business ranged from a cable company, to radio communications, and 24-hour answering services. They branched out into farming and raising cattle when they bought their property just outside of Gold Hill in the 1990s. But in 1999, the Garvin family planted wine grapes.Today, they're up to 70 acres of grapes - and they can't grow enough to meet demand.
Vern and his wife Dorothy passed along their passion for the land, their community, and entrepreneurship to their children. Active in the family businesses from a young age, you could always find Lee, Roy, and Ruth pulling cable, working a switchboard or doing whatever needed to be done - and the three of them jointly manage the vineyard today.
As farmers, growing grapes comes naturally. But there was a young winemaker, a rising star named Herb Quady, who kept coming back to buy grapes. It didn't take long before Quady proposed a partnership - he'd make the wine, and the siblings could finally sell the fruits of their vineyard labor under the Cliff Creek name to honor their father and his love of the land.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Cliff Creek Cellars, Gold Hill, Oregon
2015 MRV
Oh, the great white grapes of the Rhone! The three musketeers are the three that you'll find in this wine - Marsanne (22%), Roussanne (41%), and Viognier (37%). While Viognier is beloved alone, Marsanne and Roussanne are typically found blended together. Marsanne brings richness and depth, while Roussanne delivers acid and elegance.
The plot thickens when you discover that in the 1980s, a large number of California wineries were shocked to discover that the smuggled Roussanne vines they were passing around were really Viognier - with similar aromatic qualities.
The Rhone-style MRV blend of all three is becoming a hallmark of Southern Oregon wineries. (And this edition from Cliff Creek is the third MRV to win us over.)
Cliff Creek's MRV explodes with white peach and nectarines balanced by crisp apples. This is a wonderful wine to pair with seafood or anything with a cream sauce. This wine has seen some time in barrel during fermentation to help integrate all the luscious flavors.
A Cellar 503 selection in October 2016, Amazing Oregon Blends Southern Oregon | Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier