Hiyu Smockshop Band Spring Ephemeral 2022 Magnum
Hiyu Smockshop Band Spring Ephemeral 2022 Magnum
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Hiyu Smockshop Band Spring Ephemeral 2022 Magnum

Hiyu Wine Farm
$160.00

Grape: Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris
Vintage: 2022
Type: White

This white wine is a skin-fermented blend of chardonnay, grüner veltliner, pinot blanc, and pinot gris from a high-elevation site on Underwood Mountain, carrying the Smockshop Band name Nate Ready and China Tresemer use for their exploration of the wider Columbia River Gorge, apart from the Hiyu and Tzum wines drawn from their own hillside farm. It is bottled under the Spring Ephemeral designation, released within a couple months of harvest to capture the wine at its freshest. The wines are made without any addition of yeast, nutrients, enzymes, sugar, acid, or water, the same standard the farm applies across its own labels.

It displays a pale, slightly hazy gold color, opening with orchard fruit and a faint spritz of retained carbon dioxide. On the palate, the light-bodied frame is lively and unsettled, with a texture that still shows the wine's youth. Acidity is high and gives the wine real snap. Tannins are not a factor in a white this young. It finishes short, bright, and a little restless, exactly what the quick bottling is built to preserve.

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.