Meet Our House-made Brut!
It might be a little unnerving to sip on something that came from an umarked bottle, but what’s pictured above is a bottle of brut made with love by the Arden staff. This winemaking project from last summer proved to be an educational + fun way to get together outside of the restaurant and do something that could later be enjoyed by the rest of our family – you!
We made 50 cases of our brut and have plenty to go around since its release a few months ago. Come in and enjoy it by the glass or by the bottle, and feel free to quiz any of our staff members for details on our house brut, or read on:
Our brut was made using the méthode champenoise technique, a traditional method of making sparkling wine used in the Champagne region of France that requires two fermentations. After the first fermentation, we added sugar and yeast to each bottle and let them sit for almost a year. Then we disgorged the bottles at the end of this summer, flipping the bottles upside down to let the yeast go to the neck and popped the tops to let the yeast come out. (You might recall seeing our staff spray wine all over each other during this part of the process!) The last step was to add a little bit more sugar and cognac before re-bottling them by hand.
Our brut is nice and dry with good acidity. It’s fresh, bright and crisp, with a touch of richness from the yeast.
It’s 100% pinot noir from a single vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA, making it a ‘blanc de noirs’, or a white wine made from red varietals.