2020 Bubbles Sparkling Rose

The 2020 Vintage presented new challenges and obstacles for all of us to overcome. With a pandemic sweeping across the globe, Björnson and our cellar co-habitant partners decided to share a single seasonal crew and offer them lodging at the winery to promote a safe and collaborative atmosphere while simultaneously limiting potential exposures. However, the virus was not the only unprecedented adversity we faced. Massive wild fires swept Oregon and most of the West Coast covering our wine country vineyards with harmful smoke just days before harvest. Smoke compounds can be absorbed by grapes and stored primarily in the skins, so an effort was made to treat all our grapes as gently as possible. Our white grapes were pressed softer than ever before and we elected to increase our production of rosé wines to avoid potential smoke impact. Fortunately, the season produced a crop with small berries and concentrated color and an extended hangtime (period from bloom to harvest), increasing phenological maturity and character. This allowed us to treat our grapes gently while still making wines of complexity and depth.