Going Full Circle

With New Projects Emerging From France, the Willamette Valley’s 00 Wines Seeks to “Push Chardonnay to Its Capacity”

by Michelle Metter

Oregon’s Willamette Valley is arguably one of the world’s most prolific producers of Pinot Noir. For the better part of 60 years, growers have taken advantage of the region’s maritime climate with mild winters and long springs to nurture this remarkable variety—which comprises 70% of the valley’s vines—as well as other cool-climate grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.

Thanks to the efforts of winemaker Wynne Peterson-Nedry and 00 (Double Zero) Wine proprietors Christopher and Kathryn Hermann, the Willamette Valley may very well be rising further in the ranks. Their shared passion for Pinot Noir has led this relatively new company to rack up an impressive list of accolades as it establishes itself among the top producers of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in both Oregon and France.

In naming the winery that they cofounded in 2015, Christopher and his father, world-renowned plant geneticist Dr. Richard Hermann, were inspired by numerology. Seeing zero as “the number of potential,” they decided to double up, using one to symbolize the potential of Chardonnay and the other of Pinot Noir. Their family-owned venture had simple and somewhat secretive beginnings, sourcing a small allocation of grapes to produce an amphora-fermented Willamette Valley Pinot Noir in partnership with Beaux Frères winemaker Mike Etzel. The result was nothing short of spectacular, yielding a soft but structured wine that set the team on a course to produce Old World–style Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with traditional techniques.

To master the latter grape, they recruited famed Burgundian winemaker Pierre Millemann of Millemann Consulting in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Millemann introduced the family to a rare method known as Black-Chardonnay production, and with the subsequent release of the 2016 vintage, the winery’s VGW (Very Good White), EGW (Extremely Good White), and Single Vineyard Bunker Hill Chardonnays garnered acclaim from critics and collectors alike and soon became cult favorites.

Christopher believes that their approach in the winery is perhaps one of the region’s most assertive, with a goal of yielding wines with structure and ageworthiness. To produce what’s known as Black Chardonnay, he says, “we extract the maximum phenolics out of the skins to imprint the essence of terroir and vintage on each lot. Our team stomps the fruit as soon as it arrives at the winery, and we leave the juice on the skins overnight.” A “heavy press cycle” follows the next day, with no sulfur dioxide added to the pressed juice before it ferments with native yeast in a combination of traditional Damy, Chassin, and François Frères French oak barrels (228 liters) and 500-liter puncheons. (“Adding sulfur dioxide at this stage would significantly mask the unique flavors and aromas of the fruit that our growers work so hard to create in the vineyard,” Christopher explains). Then, after resting for a year, the wine is racked into large tanks to finish on the lees for an additional six months.

“It’s an incredible dance between human ideas and nature’s gifts,” Christopher says. “For us, this is about pushing Chardonnay to its capacity [and] producing distinctively textured and aromatic wines in a relentless pursuit of the extraordinary.”

While Peterson-Nedry—a second-generation winemaker from one of the Willamette Valley’s pioneering wine families— oversees day-to-day operations in Oregon, her French counterparts are ushering in 00 Wines’ newest slate of projects, which are set for release this year.

In collaboration with Millemann, 00 Wines will soon unveil 25 cases of its 2017 Corton-Charlemagne; the winery’s first release from the region, it exhibits bright acidity, concentrated flavors, considerable structure, and a long finish. Another revolutionary French vigneron, Julien Launois, has also teamed up with 00 Wines for a special release of the winery’s debut Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Blanc de Blancs Grower Champagne, produced from a single barrel of vin clair. (00 Wines also makes 25 cases annually of Extra Brut NV Grower Champagne.)

What unfolds in the winery may be serious business, but Kathryn Hermann has taken a lighter approach with 00 Wines’ marketing through her catchy label monikers as she steers the branding into more approachable territory. But that doesn’t mean that 00 is finished with breaking boundaries; in that respect, they’re well aware that they’re in good company in the Willamette Valley. “Since the time of the first pioneers, Oregon has always been a place where people are free to pursue their dreams,” Christopher says. And for this five-year-old winery, it seems no dream is too lofty to chase.