Lingua Franca

Lingua Franca in Oregon is the fruition of Master Sommelier Larry Stone's lifelong ambition. In 2012, Larry acquired a site in the Eola-Amity Hills, partnering with David Honig and Dominique Lafon to craft expressive, nuanced wines. Winemaker Thomas Savre, a protégé of Lafon, brings experience from renowned Burgundian wineries and the Evening Land Vineyards in Seven Springs, Oregon.

The project's ethos emphasises creating wines with a sense of place, driven by the passion and expertise of its founders. The 27-ha vineyard, surrounded by notable neighbours like Seven Springs and Lone Star Vineyards, benefits from ideal easterly exposure.

Larry planted exclusively Dijon and heritage clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, sourced from esteemed vineyards like Le Montrachet. The Chardonnay grows in stony soils for distinctive minerality, while the Pinot thrives in silty loam "Jory" and marine fossil Nekia soils.

An organic and biodynamic approach guides the meticulous vineyard management at Lingua Franca, promoting biodiversity and vine health. The environmentally conscious winery reduces energy consumption and reuses water and CO2.

In the winery, grapes are carefully sorted, and whole clusters are used to enhance complexity. Traditional pigéage (foot punching) is employed for better results. The range includes estate wines and fruit from single sites, embodying classic Oregon elegance with pure fruit, spice, and earthy notes.

Sonoma County

North Coast's Sonoma County is California's largest AVA with 19,800 ha (2005) of vines. It has forever been the home of the meek and mild small grower as compared to the grandeur and might of neighbour Napa; more picturesque too, as much of the sandy, gravely loam land belonged to true orchards and fruit farms until the 1970s.

Sonoma Valley covers a small part of Sonoma County but its wines often outshine its illustrious neighbours in Napa County. Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon are cultivated here with much success. Sonoma Valley has long enjoyed a special place in the history of California wine. The first vineyards in the valley were planted by Franciscan monks in 1823. In 1857 Agoston Haraszthy, one of the founding fathers of California's commercial winemaking, opened here the highly successful Buena Vista Winery.

Closer to the coast are the region's top producing AVAs for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Green Valley, while the slightly warmer Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys have earned a reputation as a hotspot for Cabernet, and increasingly, Zinfandel and Merlot.

Recommended producers
Ridge, Teira, Williams & Selyem, Rochioli are definitely worth investigating.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.