Hiyu Wine Farm Aesalon 2022
Hiyu Wine Farm Aesalon 2022
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Hiyu Wine Farm Aesalon 2022

Hiyu Wine Farm
$110.00

Grape: Xarel-lo, Arinto, Verdelho, Albariño, Trousseau Gris, Godello, Albillo Real, Macabeo
Vintage: 2022
Type: White

This white wine is a co-fermented field blend from Hiyu's home hillside farm above the Columbia Gorge, where 16 named fields are planted to a mix of grape varieties rather than a single one. Nate Ready and China Tresemer run the farm on the idea that a field, not a grape, is the unit of flavor. Aesalon draws its name from one of those fields rather than from any single variety. What ends up in the glass depends on what grew together that year, not on a fixed recipe.

It displays a pale gold color, opening with orchard and hedgerow aromatics typical of the farm's mixed plantings. On the palate, the light-bodied frame carries a scattered, layered quality rather than one dominant fruit note. Texture and cut vary by field and by year, which is the point of a field blend over a varietal wine. Acidity stays fresh and keeps the wine drinkable young. It finishes clean and short, built for the table rather than the cellar.


Hiyu is a true mixed farm with pigs, cows, chickens, ducks and geese living among the vines during different parts of the year and helping to control the vegetation. Nate calls their vineyard management, which has been deeply influenced by Masanobu Fukuoka, “the wild side of permaculture”.

The property is divided into half-acre blocks, each planted to a field blend from a different place or moment in the genetic history of the grapevine, with up to 150 different varieties and clones in total.

The name “Hiyu” comes from Chinook Jargon, where it denotes “abundance”, “plenty” or “big party”. Nate Ready used to work as a sommelier in various fine establishments, including the lauded Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa Valley. China Tresemer, the estate’s co-founder and agriculturalist, is also a talented illustrator who creates all the labels.

Manual harvest into small baskets, whole cluster macerations, foot-treading and basket press, slow fermentation with indigenous yeasts only. Aged in old neutral oak barrels of various sizes. No fining or filtration, no sulfur at bottling.