A still life setup with a bottle of wine, a glass of white wine, and various flowers and vegetables, including white eggplants and sliced bread, arranged on a reflective surface with hanging green plants and a light blue background.

Only Always

Photo by Ellen Cronin

You could say that Only Always is inspired by the white wine blends of Alsace…and you’d almost be correct, but, in truth, we looked to the very rule driven, single-vineyard-derived, Viennese wine style - Gemischter satz. Our Austrian friend, Stefan Fuchs, makes incredible Gemischeter satz (amongst other things) and we have been lucky to trade wines back-and-forth over the years. The first time we tried his blends, we were blown away and desired to accomplish something similar here in the Willamette Valley.

So, what is Gemischter satz and what are its ‘rules’? Well, it is a white wine that has to be from one vineyard. It has to consist of three grapes at minimum. The majority grape can’t be more than 50% of the blend and the minority grape can’t be less than 10%.

For Only Always, we are lucky to work with the fruit from Sunnyside Vineyard in South Salem. It is the oldest site (c. 1970) we get grapes from and it is farmed by two of the most exceptional people we know - Luci Wisniewski and Tom Owen. The vineyard is about 750 ft above sea level and planted on brilliantly red volcanic soils. The blend percentages vary a little, year-by-year, but it is always composed of Auxerrois, Gewürztraminer and Riesling. The wine is fermented in tank and then aged in a mix of Oregon and French oak barrels.