100% Leon Millot; Willamette Valley; 636 bottles produced;12.2% Alcohol by Volume
This grape variety is among the class of "French-American hybrids, the result of careful human breeding back in the day directed at the existential threat to European cultivars posed by the root louse Phylloxera vastatrix (which is not its accepted present name, but the much better one for such a super-villain). We picked a bit of this fruit out west while our own small plantings are not yet producing, to learn about its behavior in the cellar. We really like that the vines will be more tolerant of several threats in the field (cold and disease, especially) and offer the possibility of pesticide-free grape culture; we love that Leon produces a glass of petal-weight pale wine, evoking first- and second-string berries (yes strawberry, but also maybe red currant, even elderberry), dusky flowers, damp spring greenery, and fresh pencil.
