Langes were apparently only the fourth U.S. winery to produce a Pinot Gris, and they claim to have been the first to ferment one in barrel, the latest version of which is their 2011 Pinot Gris Reserve. Given the nature of that vintage and the absence of malo-lactic transformation, it’s hardly surprising that green apple is a significant aspect of this wine’s scents and flavors, to which the barrel adds a lightly caramelized tone and lees contact a hint of creaminess. Ordinarily, I admit to being uninspired or even turned off by green caramel apple in wines like this, but the use of various yeast cultures has indeed engendered the sort of diversity that was intended, a cocktail with tropical fruit, Sauvignon-like passion fruit, and peach layers as well as some attractive brown spice accents, and the finishing effect is quite lush and at the same time pleasantly refreshing. Having no experience with the maturation of this cuvee, I can only speculate that it will be best drunk within the coming year. (A decidedly spritzy, tropically-scented “regular” 2011 Pinot Gris, incidentally, was a bit too green apple in finishing character to merit more than a modest recommendation.) Singer-songwriter Don Lange and his wife Wendy arrived from Central California to start their Dundee Hills winery a quarter century ago, prompted by what he describes as a Pinot-centric “hobby that had grown out of control,” and the tasting of a bottle crafted by their soon-to-be neighbor Dick Erath. “We drank it, called him on the phone, and he said ‘Come on up,’” Lange recalls. “A couple of weeks later we were up there; and by that summer we had moved and we were busy doing this project. Both of us ended up working in Dick’s tasting room to make ends meet.” Today, 45 of the Langes’ 60 acres – representing three nearby locations – are planted, five of them with Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. The original Pinot plantings were with Pommard, Wadenswil, and a selection from Bien Nacido; more recently some of the Dijon clones have gone in, including those on their Redside Vineyard, which only produced its first fruit last year. Son Jesse took over as winemaker in 2004, with Wayne Cook assisting him as vineyard manager. Pinot is almost entirely destemmed. “One thing we don’t do a whole lot of is cold-soaking, which puts us in the vast minority,” remarks Jesse Lange, whose fermentations normally start up spontaneously within two days, and as he points out, don’t seem lacking in color, even in vintage 2010. Small open-top fermentors and two punch-downs a day is a typical regimen, permitting each small block to be fermented and followed individually. “Another thing that we do that I’m not sure anybody else does or not to the degree that we do,” notes Lange “– and I haven’t found a better way to do this – is that we hand-bucket the wine out of the fermentor and into the press.” (In fact, a couple of other growers I’ve noted follow this gentle, labor-intensive procedure, which keeps seeds entirely from the press in order to, as Lange suggests, achieve superior texture.) Settling is minimal before the young wine is put to barrels, which range from 20-50% new according to cuvee, though I must say that I found their consistent toastiness (officially “medium”) a bit awkwardly evident in a number of wines I tasted. All of the Pinots are bottled just before the next harvest. “I’ve never seen the ratio of malic to tartaric acid as high as it was in 2010 and 2011,” says Jesse Lange, but he didn’t add tartaric in either year, or in 2009. “My experience in California’s Central Coast with knee-jerk acidification turned me off on that,” chimes in Lange senior.Tel. (503) 538-6476