Blueberry wine from Kelley Fox!

2022 Kelley Fox

Blueberry wine

Hand-picked blueberries

Willamette Valley, Oregon

I’m thrilled to offer you this delicious wine made of hand-picked blueberries grown on 35-year-old bushes on a local farm. This wine is a collaboration with my partner, Jim Anderson of Patricia Green Cellars, and we each have half of the total production. Blueberries are indigenous to this continent, and it’s believed that they are the first fruit that emerged at the end of the last ice age. Blueberries have been used for both food and medicine for centuries and are known to be packed with nutrition and anti-oxidants-but mostly, they are wildly delicious.

Jim and I produced this wine in the same way we produce our single vineyard Pinots: small lot fermentations, one pigeage a day (by me), pressing at dryness, and élevage in neutral French oak Burgundy barrels until racking to tank in preparation for bottling.

As soon as the cork is pulled out of the bottle, wonderful aromas of fresh blueberries fill the room. One would think that in the glass, then, that it would be overwhelming. Not so. It has an immensely pleasing, refreshing blueberry aroma that is fine-not clunky or overbearing. The youthful, bluish red colour is deeper than that of my Pinot noirs, but the wine is brilliantly transparent, full of movement, and has a silky texture like grape wine without any viscous heaviness. The acidity and structure beautifully support the fruit and this wine is far from simple. Blueberries love growing here, and I can’t imagine an Oregon summer without our berries. So here is some Oregon summer for you in a glass. I hope you enjoy this wine as much as Jim and I do!