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https://www.barrons.com/articles/good-company-resonance-wines-organic-viticulture-in-the-willamette-valley-01659024819
A taste of Résonance Vineyard Pinot Noir and a wine enthusiast will likely detect a Burgundian quality. That’s not by happenstance.
In 2013, Thibault Gagey, whose family managed Maison Louis Jadot in Burgundy, France, for decades, and Jacques Lardière, who was the house’s lead winemaker for 42 years before he retired, embarked on an venture in Oregon's Willamette Valley: Résonance.
The duo, along with Pierre-Henry Gagey, Maison Louis Jadot’s president and Gagey’s father, could have chosen to pursue winemaking anywhere. But the Willamette Valley, one of the world’s premier regions for Pinot Noir and a “very special place,” according to Thibault Gagey, was both a logical and heartfelt choice.
“We knew for a long time that Oregon was a prime area for Pinot Noir,” Gagey says. “Also, we have a strong link with the U.S., Jadot’s owners, the Kopf family, are from there.”
While the U.S. market has always been a robust one for Jadot wines, ultimately, it was the allure of the 20-acre property—a showpiece of a vineyard—that prompted the decision. “Résonance Vineyard is the reason why we started the project,” he says.
The Résonance portfolio consists of nine wines: six Pinot Noirs, two Chardonnays, and one rosé. Single estate wines, estate blends, “Choix du Cœur”—or “Heart's Choice”—the winemakers’ selection crafted from some of the oldest blocks in the vineyards, and special edition wines available to members in the tasting room, round out the offerings.
Prices range from US$30 for the Willamette Valley rosé to US$65 for the Découverte Pinot Noir to US$90 for the Résonance Choix du Cœur.
The estate is set in Carlton, the Yamhill-Carlton American Viticultural Area's [AVA] hub, located about 35 miles southwest of Portland.
Résonance produces wines from four vineyards: Résonance Vineyard, the signature plot in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, Découverte Vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA, Home Ranch Vineyard, also in Yamhill-Carlton, and the most recent addition, Koosah Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA.
Options include the single estate Résonance Pinot Noir, a well-structured wine with a graceful finale, and Découverte Vineyard Pinot Noir, a fruit-forward wine with a touch of minerality and a lingering finish. The Les Coteaux Pinot Noir mingles fruit from both vineyards. Also an estate blend, the Les Coteaux Chardonnay expresses citrus, peach, honeysuckle, and vanilla.
While the winemaking team at Résonance has over 170 years of combined experience crafting Burgundy wines, according to Gagey, they aren’t trying to replicate those wines in Oregon. “The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay we have here in the Willamette Valley are not the same,” he says. “But our Burgundian heritage, our Burgundian knowledge, and our experience have, of course, an impact on both viticulture and winemaking.”
Maison Louis Jadot and Résonance share the same winemaking philosophy.
Like the talent behind the operation in Burgundy, the Oregon team is dedicated to biodiversity and sustainable, hands-on winemaking. Organic viticulture is essential to Résonance, Gagey says.
The vintners believe an experiential approach is the first step in crafting a great bottle. Just as in France, their winemaking techniques honor the place, conveying the distinct terroir of each vineyard, producing wine that tastes superior and is better for the planet.
“At Maison Louis Jadot in Burgundy, the vineyard is the most important part of our heritage, and it is our mission to take care of it, to farm in harmony with the environment, to reveal the purest expression of each terroir, and to pass a healthy vineyard to the next generation,” says Guillaume Large, winemaker. “At Résonance, we do the same.”
To produce excellent wine, you need the best grapes, and Gagey says organic fruit is tastier than fruit exposed to chemicals. Accordingly, they don’t use herbicides or chemical pesticides; they till the soils and dry farm, so there’s no irrigation involved.
“Our soils are alive, and the deep roots bring more complexity and minerality to the grapes, truly expressing the place," Large says.
The winemakers intend to expand its footprint in the region by purchasing additional vineyards. They recently bought Koosah (Native-American for “heavenly sky”) Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Large says 2022 will be Koosah’s first vintage, and the team is anxious to taste the expression of this unique terroir.
“Like our other vineyards, the cultivation is organic there, and we have started the conversion process to have Koosah's grapes certified organic,” Large says. After aging, they’ll choose some barrels to blend, but single vineyard expressions are in the future, too. “New labels will come: Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir and Koosah Vineyard Chardonnay, but not before 2024.”
A taste of Résonance Vineyard Pinot Noir and a wine enthusiast will likely detect a Burgundian quality.
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