By Kiley Evans

We get asked pretty regularly about the name of our flagship red blend Orion’s Nebula. How did you come up with that name? What does it mean? How does that connect to wine? Are you astronomers?

Dreamers? Definitely. Stargazers? Maybe.

In a broad sense Orion’s Nebula is a creative outlet for Ledger David Cellars just as Orion’s Nebula gives birth to new stars. We call upon our estate vineyard’s star vines to compose Orion’s Nebula as the celestial stars make up Orion. We further personalize the strength in unity of our winegrowing and winemaking efforts much like Orion is visible in both the Earth’s hemispheres. Colloquially, we call Orion’s Nebula our “Right Bank” red blend based on Cabernet franc as an ode to the great wines from St. Emilion along the Eastern bank of Bordeaux’s Dordogne river, the “Right Bank.” Our priority is a wine of elegance and authority that embodies the beauty of the night sky and the power of the warrior hunter. Bold yet sophisticated. Powerful yet refined.

Orion is visible in the northern hemisphere from Fall into Spring. Besides the star Betelguese, a red supergiant whose color is apparent with the naked eye, the most immediately discernable feature of the constellation Orion is a small southeast-to-northwest line of three distinct stars referred to as Orion’s Belt. Descending from that “belt” is a second line of three stars known as the hunter’s sword. The sword’s middle star is in fact not a star at all, but a cluster of stars and gas known as Orion’s Nebula, which is actually a stellar “nursery” where new stars are born.

Orion. His enormous size, supernatural strength, and cunning skill with the sword made him a legendary warrior and hunter. So much so that he was retained by Kings to rid their kingdoms of vicious beasts. His prowess led to him being in the company of the virgin goddess Diana, sister of Apollo, as a companion and friend. Upon seeing their mutual infatuation, Apollo became enraged. He sent an invulnerable scorpion to chase Orion into the sea while he taunted his sister as she strolled the shoreline that she was not his equal with the bow and arrow. He pointed out a tiny dot in the ocean that she certainly could not hit. Diana unleashed an arrow with mortal accuracy then cried incessantly as Orion’s body washed ashore later. She placed him and his sword among the stars so she might enjoy his company as she rode her chariot across the night sky.

By Winemaker Kiley Evans

Well here I sit, Macbook on lap, trying to find the words to express the vintage we are experiencing in 2014 at Ledger David Cellars. Yes, I know the hype in Oregon this year has been early, hot, bountiful, and great quality. I’ll go along with all but the first. You remember my recent post about how our vineyard is a cool spot in a warm area? The evidence is at hand. Let’s dive into our white harvest so far.

Ledger David vineyard in Talent at sunrise during Harvest 2014.

The Ledger David whites are all in the barn (I’m from the South, remember? Everyone has a barn in the South and that’s where crops go when harvested). Our first pick, Sauvignon blanc, or savvy as one of my dear Aussie compadres calls it, is fermented dry and aging. Crisp, clean, concentrated aromas and flavors.

Our second pick was Chardonnay. The Chard has completed its primary fermentation, as well. We kept our vineyard’s two clones separate this year and are again using roughly 20% new French oak and 30% ML fermentation. The wine right now is hard to read. It just finished the alcoholic fermentation and hasn’t fully integrated as of this morning. The component parts, intense tropical fruit, balanced acidity, toasty oak, caramel and butterscotch tones, are there, but they aren’t all playing the same page of music just yet. Patience required.

Chenin blanc came in next. We turned the Chenin into a grand experiment. We have a great combination of stainless steel drums and neutral oak barrels and we have multiple yeast strains at work including “native” yeast, which are the yeasts that come into the winery on the fruit. We will bottle several different tiny lots of this wine for future tasting to see which of these trial wines comes closest to expressing our vineyard site when compared to prior vintages.

I have to say the wines are beyond interesting with unctuous mouthfeels and textures unlike anything we have done in the past. Viognier was next. All I can “legally” share about our Viognier from 2014 is that it is simply astonishing, a first for Ledger David, and an exceedingly rare style of wine. Trust me when I say it will blow the status quo out of the water. Lastly, we harvested our Malvasia bianca. Malvasia is a very late ripening variety and the wine has only just begun to ferment. We have a little something special planned for this, too.

Fresh reds from the 2014 Harvest show signs of future award-winning wines.

Our first red in the barn was Syrah. As I tasted the three bins of fermenting black marbles this morning I was struck first by the intense inky color. Then the aromas took my nose for a ride. Blue and black berries, earth, game, road tar, pepper, all-spice, grilled bread, and an intriguing herbal note that reminded me of dried herbs de provence and garrigue. Tempranillo came next, or at least part of it. What we have fermenting right now astounds me with its depth of flavor, richness of texture, and structure considering its age. This earlier-ripening clone tasted in the vineyard like it had something special to show, which is becoming a bit more obvious now. Reserve, you ask? I can’t say for certain just yet, but am definitely leaning that way.

All of our Malbec came next. Wonder why my hands are stained? Wonder no more. Malbec inspired the “Society of the Black Hand”, of which I am a proud member every harvest. It stained the inside of the glass as I swirled and is staining my keyboard now. Intense black and red fruit, lavender, and freshly roasted coffee with an oily, thick, chewy, and extracted texture, mouth-filling body, and long, pure finish. All I could say was, “Wow.” We have harvested a portion of our Sangiovese and Cabernet franc, but those wines have not begun to ferment yet. Given the Syrah, Tempranillo, and Malbec thus far I am seeing this as one of those rare vintages in which Mother Nature blesses our vineyard with exceptional fruit and we do our best to coax from those grapes an expression of her goodness, vitality, and indomitable spirit. It won’t be long before we start thinking about pressing the reds off the skins, selecting and filling barrels, and shortly after that blending. The process comes on fast, but with wines like these it is such happy torture.

The last of the wines were picked the first week in November – Cabernet franc and Petit verdot.

Stay tuned…