Sunu Wine - Homepage

Qty	Item	Description	Price	Total
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45° 17’ 43” North

123° 17’ 43” West

2017 Guadalupe Vineyard

Clone #115, Dundee Hills

The northwest corner of the Dundee Hills AVA just barely holds Guadalupe Vineyard, sitting at 425 feet above sea level at the southern end of the marine sediment of Yamhill-Carlton. Directly south-facing, the vineyard is uniquely sheltered on the north and east sides, moderating temperatures throughout the year. The result is an unusually long growing season, producing deep color and complex, savory dimension. CLICK TO VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS

Only 150 Cases Made. Available 02 October, 2019

RATINGS & REVIEWS (pdf)

91-93

"...It’s a pretty, seamless barrel sample that has good acidity and present tannins, yet the overall feel is upfront and already delicious."

Jeb Dunnuck

45° 17’ 43” North

123° 17’ 43” West

2017 Matteri Vineyard

Clone # 115 / 777, Yamhill-Carlton

Our hermit in the far northwest of Yamhill-Carlton, Matteri Vineyard surveys commanding vistas of the surrounding countryside from its gently rolling, South-facing slopes. Dry and windswept at 550 feet, clones 115 and 777 do battle with the elements to produce tiny berries with powerful richness and intense flavor. CLICK TO VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS

Only 150 Cases Made. Available 02 October, 2019

RATINGS & REVIEWS (pdf)

93-95

"...It’s certainly the most complex and layered in the lineup and blossoms with time in the glass."

Jeb Dunnuck

45° 17’ 43” North

45° 17’ 43” West

2017 Saffron Fields

Pommard Clone, Yamhill-Carlton

Saffron Fields sits in the middle of the marine sediment, solitary atop a unique saddle at 400 feet above sea-level in the Southeastern corner of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. This forms a natural amphitheater which traps heat throughout the growing season, creating unusually robust, dark and brooding Pinot Noir. CLICK TO VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS

Only 125 Cases Made. Available 02 October, 2019

RATINGS & REVIEWS (pdf)

93-95

"...It’s another stunner that should benefit from a year or two in bottle."

Jeb Dunnuck

45° 17’ 43” North

45° 17’ 43” West

2017 Shea East Hill

Heritage Clones, Yamhill-Carlton

The iconic Shea Vineyard comprises plantings across two distinct slopes in southeastern Yamhill-Carlton. The East Hill is the larger and steeper of the two, dropping several hundred feet across the site. Its oldest vines were planted in the late-1980’s and Shea Vineyard East Hill has since proven itself as one of the standards of West Coast Pinot Noir, producing muscular, meaty and age-worthy wines. CLICK TO VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS

Only 200 Cases Made. Available 02 October, 2019

RATINGS & REVIEWS (pdf)

92-94

"...Like all the wines here, it’s balanced, has fine tannins, and a great, great texture."

Jeb Dunnuck

45° 17’ 43” North

45° 17’ 43” West

2017 SUNU

Willamette Valley

The profoundly delicate Pinot Noir finds a rare and superlative home in the northern hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. This is the former floor of the Pacific Ocean, holding marine sediment deposited over millennia amongst a tangled maze of creases and folds in the Earth. The vines planted here exhibit a diverse range of intense expressions…Pinot Noir that embodies the essence of that magical marriage of site and grape which us back to explore it again and again. CLICK TO VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS

475 Cases Made. Available 02 October, 2019

RATINGS & REVIEWS (pdf)

91-93

"I suspect the 2017 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley will be a terrific value and it certainly shows the quality present in all these new releases..."

Jeb Dunnuck

The Back Story

Twenty-two years ago, Betz Family Winery was founded with a basic tenet: search ceaselessly for the highest quality vineyard sites, pay attention to every detail in the vineyard, then give time in the cellar for slow evolution of each parcel’s unique characteristics. The French have a saying for this emphasis on vineyard as the primary engine of wine quality and character, “Sous Nous,” which means “under us.” We believe that the soul of our wine is not in the cellar…it’s under us in the jumbled mixture of soil and vine.

This quest for unique expressions of site and variety, or “Sous Nous” has taken us through the best plantings of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah and Grenache across Washington. It brought us to impossibly old, dry-farmed bush vines of Chenin Blanc in South Africa. And now, it has led us to a new and perhaps inevitable destination: limited-production bottlings of Pinot Noir from exceptional single vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Oregon’s Willamette Valley is the former floor of the Pacific Ocean, holding marine sediment deposited over millennia amongst a tangled maze of creases and folds in the Earth. The vines planted here exhibit a diverse range of intense expression…delicate and profound Pinot Noir that embodies the essence of that magical marriage of site and grape which brings us back to explore the variations again and again. After years of methodical searching, we’ve found several extraordinary parcels grown on this Marine sediment layer in the northern Willamette Valley, predominantly in the in the Yamhill Carlton Appellation. Each site reflects a different facet of Pinot’s elegant and seductive breadth: Guadalupe Vineyard, Matteri Vineyard, Saffron Fields Vineyard and the iconic Shea Vineyard. These make up the inaugural release of SUNU.

Our Winemaking

While we believe that great wine begins in the vineyard, we also know that what takes place in the cellar is the signature of great winemaking.

For the first vintage of SuNu, we cast a wide net with our winemaking techniques. Varying levels of whole cluster inclusion, length of time on skins and the use of different fermentation vessels are variables that we always consider at Betz Family Winery and were, of course, duly applied to our winemaking approach. However, it was also necessary for us to adapt our methods to include much more careful handling of the delicate Pinot Noir grape.

New winery equipment was purchased for gentler processing and cap management was done all by hand and foot. We introduced different yeast strains and new Burgundy barrel coopers to our already existing barrel program in order to highlight the subtle nuances that Pinot Noir is capable of achieving. Extended barrel and bottle aging were also necessary to allow plenty of time for the wine to fully transform into it's final identity before being released.