Wines> Acclaim
Acclaim and Press
Portland Monthly's wine columnist Condé Cox - a wine critic for more than 30 years and one of a select few to be accepted at the prestigious London-based Institute of Masters of Wine - chose our 2006 Red Hills Estate out of more than 650 regional wines, giving it top honors in his list of "Oregon's 50 Best Wines."
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Crafted by the talented 39-year-old winemaker Anna Matzinger, this wine embodies the phrase “a steel fist in a velvet glove.” Remarkably balanced for a high-alcohol wine, it possesses tart cherry flavors, mouthwatering tannins, and a power restrained by elegance.
Matzinger took big risks that paid off with a grip that is almost gritty with extra palate weight. Founding owner Gary Andrus (who passed away early this year after a long illness) spared no expense on Archery Summit’s facilities, mixing new technologies with old-world values, from experimental fermentation vats to deeply excavated underground barrel caves.
Matzinger, a Boise native and Evergreen College graduate who learned winemaking in New Zealand and Australia before starting at Archery Summit as an intern 10 years ago, has taken advantage of every opportunity she’s been given. To her, the most critical ingredients are hardly cutting-edge: the vineyard’s south-facing slope; the Willamette Valley’s volcanic soil, known as “Jory”; pruning the vines by as much as one-half to maximize the flavor in the remaining fruit; and using only the natural yeast that arrives on the grapes instead of commercially produced cultured yeasts.
Of the five vineyards managed by Archery Summit, Matzinger says that Red Hills Estate “has always been my favorite—a little secret."
Article and photos courtesy of Portland Monthly Magazine, September, 2009. For the full article, visit here.
White House Serves Archery Summit
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On February 22, 2009, the White House hosted the 2009 Governors' Dinner, the first black-tie dinner of the administration. The menu featured the Archery Summit Estate 2004 Pinot Noir paired with Wagyu Beef and Nantucket Scallops. That evening, President Obama raised a glass of wine and delivered his first formal dinner toast. "To the nation's governors," the President toasted, "to the United States of America, and to the certain hope that - despite our current travails - we will all emerge more prosperous and united."
The menu for the evening covered all-American organic and sustainable foods paired with American wines:
Chesapeake Crab Agnolottis with Roasted Sunchokes - Spottswood Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (California)
Wagyu Beef and Nantucket Scallops with Glazed Red Carrots, Portobello Mushrooms and Creamed Spinach - Archery Summit Pinot Noir "Estate" 2004 (Oregon)
Winter Citrus Salad with Pistachios and Lemon Honey Vinaigrette
Huckleberry Cobbler with Caramel Ice Cream - Black Star Farms "A Capella" Riesling Ice Wine 2007 (Michigan)
Read more about this historic wine here. This vintage is sold out, but you can still buy the equally noteworthy 2006 bottling here.
Archery Summit's Anna Matzinger Featured in willametteLive.com
Local website williametteLive.com - a source for news and events in the Willamette Valley - highlights our winemaker Anna Matzinger, her approach to winemaking, and the exquisite wines she creates.
From "Wine and the Law of Gravity":
Stepping up to a conveyor belt carrying grape clusters to a destemmer, Anna Matzinger quickly grabs three bunches out of the 50 or so heading up the line and, from them, plucks three green grapes.
It's almost as though the Archery Summit winemaker spotted them 30 yards back and zeroed in on them for exclusion.
"We've had a year with a lot of large clusters and big grapes; every once in a while it pushes one of the grapes to the outside and it gets too ripe. We want to catch them before they get into the fermentation tanks," Matzinger said.
Matzinger is unassuming for someone who, just a few weeks prior, had her 2006 Red Hills Estate Pinot Noir named the best wine in Oregon by Portland Monthly Magazine...
Read the complete article here.