Maresh Golden-Crowned Sparrow Blocks Pinot Noir , Kelly Fox Wines, Dundee Hills, Oregon 2022

Kelly Fox Wines, Dundee Hills & McMinnville 

Kelley Fox Wines is a small family winery run by just two people, Kelley Fox (winemaker) and her brother, Gerson Stearns (general manager).  The first vintage was 2007, starting with just over 100 cases. The annual case production is now just shy of 2000 cases, all from the historic Maresh Vineyard and the Demeter-certified biodynamic Momtazi Vineyard.

The wines are made to reflect the land, the vines, the fruit of the vines, the year, and everything else unknown and unseen that comes with those things. That said, the wines are not really "made" at all.  As the winemaker, Kelley Fox has no end result in mind each year for the what the wines will be. What she is doing is responding to the essence of the fruit from each block, which she hopes is carrying the essence of the earth that bore it, along with the details of the year (the weather, the stars and the planets).

Kelley graduated Magna Cum Laude with dual degrees in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State University and was admitted to the PhD program in Biochemistry.

Many years ago, while staying on the Maresh farm one night during harvest, Kelley Fox heard a songbird in one of Jim Maresh Sr.’s sequoias singing in minor keys just before first light. It took years to learn what this bird was. Kelley Fox had listened to countless songbird recordings to find it. Well, it was the Golden-Crowned sparrow. These lovely sparrows migrate south at night along the Pacific from Alaska and Western Canada in the fall.  

The Maresh Golden is a medium, youthful and rich blue-red with brilliant transparency. Of course, the nose is full of Hood strawberries with the cool freshness of rain and the Pacific Ocean in the spring air, along with dark red cherries and spice. This beautifully structured wine has disarming purity and weightless power.

Grape: Pinot Noir

433 cases

Biodynamic