Grape Ink Linda's Vineyard Chardonnay Tualatin Hills 2020

Wine is an art form all its own, at the intersection of humankind and nature. The medium proves to be volatile and unpredictable, laying forth a challenge each vintage for the artist to steward, by way of their "painter's palette" of techniques, a final iteration worthy of the drinker and respectful to Mother Nature. Grape Ink's winemaker/owner Jarad Hadi explores wine's ability to tell each different vineyard story through stylistic decisions. Jarad's art intends to create a platform to showcase the great possibility in Oregon's northernmost and newest winemaking AVA, Tualatin Hills.

An affinity for winemaking comes with an upbringing in the heart of Oregon winemaking in Willamette Valley. This affinity, coupled with the study of and a career in poetry, ignited Jarad's deep appreciation for wine as a creative outlet. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Poetry, wine became the conduit that allowed Jarad to venture to Argentina, where his first book of poetry was on the cusp of publication. However, as many know, poetry doesn't entirely "pay the bills," and a harvest internship in Mendoza provided the financial stability for Jarad to make the official move. Once amongst the vines, he began drawing the connections between poetry and wine, noting all the aspects he loved about writing poems, "community, nature, creativity, and artistry" were mutual to wine. As a result, Jarad moved from Argentina to Bordeaux and pursued a formal wine education at the University of Bordeaux. His training landed him a position consulting for the upper echelon of French producers, like the First-Growth Chateaus of Margaux, Lafite, Mouton, and Latour. Eventually, by way of California, Jarad returned to Oregon with his heart and head set on uplifting his hometown's wine industry and demonstrating the world-class quality possible from the terroir.

Despite being home to some of Oregon's first commercially producing vineyards, Tualatin Hills did not become an established AVA until mid-2020. Its most notable attributes are the ranging elevations of 200 to 1,000 ft, Laurelwood soils, and temperate climate moderated by the western Coast Range mountains.  Grape Ink sources 100% of the fruit from Linda's Vineyard in Tualatin Hills. The 1.2-acre organically farmed plot sits at 1,000 feet in elevation. The vineyard's Laurelwood soils combine volcanic basalt with a mineral-rich layer of loess, windblown sediment deposited by streams transporting the glacially-ground silt over the millennia.

Jarad takes immense pride in the close partnerships he forges with his growers, working closely alongside them to improve farming practices for the betterment of the micro-climate for each. In addition, the decisions made in the vineyard, such as pruning and canopy training, are yet another tool in his artist's kit that shapes the final wine. Think of Jarad as a guiding hand in the winemaking, with as little manipulation as possible. Grapes are hand-harvested, pressed into neutral French oak barrels, and fermented natively before aging in the same barrels. Twenty months in oak adds layers and body and polishes the edges of the racy acidity on the palate. A gentle stirring of the lees before bottling creates even more texture in this mineral, acid-driven wine. Aromas of lemon zest, dusty chalk, and salty brine precede a puckeringly bright palate that seems ideally suited to jumpstart your tastebuds as dinner begins. Delicate white flowers, oyster shells, and freshly made lemonade flavors come to mind and entice one sip after another until you reach out to re-fill your glass.