QUIET WINES OF PLACE
Oregon has a white wine story that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.
The Story,
Briefly
In 2011, we took the $27,000 we’d spent nearly a decade saving for a house and started Ovum instead.
Three Rieslings and a Gewürztraminer, in Oregon, at a time when almost everyone looking at Oregon wine was looking for Pinot Noir.
We thought the white wines deserved more attention.
15 harvests later, we still do.
Along the way, Wine & Spirits has named Ovum a Top 100 Winery four times, and John was named one of Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 Tastemakers.
Turns out, it was a pretty good bet.
RIESLING IS A GOOD PLACE TO START.
If your last memory of Riesling is something very sweet, we get it. But that isn’t the whole story.
Ovum Rieslings are built around acidity, aromatics, texture, and the place the fruit came from. Some are completely dry. Some carry a little residual sugar. None of them are trying to be the Riesling you remember from 20 years ago.
You don’t need to know anything else before opening one.
Serious wine. Less homework.
We work with vineyards across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, use native yeast, add very little, and try not to get in the way. The wines aren’t supposed to taste identical every year. The weather changes. The vineyards change. So the wine changes too. That’s part of the fun.
2023
Off the Grid Riesling
Rich, aromatic, high-acid Riesling aged in acacia barrels, with apricot, lemon, thyme, and a little residual sugar.
2023
Memorista Riesling
A single-vineyard wine that shows what happens when Oregon's soil gets to do the talking.
2023
EZY TGR Chardonnay
Floral, flinty, high-acid Gewürztraminer with orange peel and enough structure to hang around for a while.
THE GOOD STUFF FIRST.
The wine club is where we put the people who want to stay a little closer to what we’re doing.
New releases. Small-production wines. RARE FORM. The occasional thing that disappears before we’ve had much chance to talk about it.
Plus the practical stuff like member pricing, shipping benefits, and first dibs when there’s something worth showing up for.