Winemaking
Free • Limitless • LucidWild
LucidWild believes that a bottle of wine should present a story of that year in our single estate vineyard as quality wine is created in the vineyard. Since every year is unique, the wine should present the distinct characteristics of that vintage in the glass, as no two vintages are alike. The artisanship and characteristics of our wine are highly dependent on Mother Nature. LucidWild’s role is to simply guide the wine along, protect it from harm, and otherwise not intervene so our grapes and wines can speak for themselves and have a strong sense of place.
Our acclaimed winemaker, Isabelle Mounier, classically trained in Burgundy and New Zealand, consistently crafts top-rated single vineyard wines and produces some of the highest rated Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Oregon’s history. LucidWild’s 25-year old vines are 100% dry-farmed (no irrigation) to promote ecological sustainability, conservation, and a deep-root vine system to accentuate the interesting layers of the Jory volcanic soil in the wines. This results in vines that produce a smaller berry, with a greater skin to juice ratio, and thus a more intensely flavored berry and a naturally flavored and balanced wine. The grapes are 100% hand-harvested and meticulously hand-sorted for only the ultra-premium selection of grapes for fermentation. The grapes are fermented using only native and indigenous yeast to highlight the natural and concentrated flavors of the vineyard site.
Similar to the iconic producers in France, LucidWild’s single vineyard wines are aged in French oak barrels for a minimum of 15 months (an extended élevage), to allow the wines to naturally and slowly mature, express structure, and show the complexity and authentic characteristic of the estate site. It takes LucidWild over three years to farm, ferment, and age each bottle of wine before we offer the wine to the market to enjoy. We release bottled wines only when they are truly ready to drink and not sequentially or for cash flow.
LucidWild’s ethos of “Putting the Land Before the Hand” has led to single vineyard small-lot wines reflecting an honest and authentic expression of the estate vineyard.
To ensure consistency in the aging of LucidWild wines and to eliminate any cork-tainted bottles, we spent considerable time researching a cork that met the highest standards for quality and consistency and one that is made sustainably from natural cork. That is why LucidWild closes its wines with Diam corks that are a completely natural product comprised of cork and beeswax, held together by a plant-based binding agent. Most importantly, Diam corks are guaranteed to be taint-free and even the possibility of one corked bottle per vintage is too many at LucidWild. The Diam cork allows identical, tiny oxygen levels to flow from within and through the cork, so the wine ages at the same rate and there’s minimal chance of leakage during aging. The slow, consistent release of oxygen throughout the aging process ensures that LucidWild’s wines will consistently age gracefully while maintaining its freshness, authenticity and originality. As with LucidWild, the majority of French wines by iconic producers are now closed with Diam corks where consistency has always been the cornerstone of excellence.
