Kelley Fox Maresh Pinot Gris, Kelly Fox Wines, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, 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 

Kelley Fox has been a full-time, on-the-floor winemaker for over sixteen years. Most of the canopy work in her blocks at Maresh she does personally and in solitude, including the biodynamic sprays. The wines are touched only by Kelley, but they are not a personal expression as she always says.. “No stylistic intentions are imposed. They are silent, living songs of these beautiful farms.”

Maresh has notes of wild briary fruit interwoven with the crunch of souring rhubarb and orange as well as background aromas of mint, wild herbs, earth, fennel, peppercorns and smoke. The herbal tannins lend a medicinal note and the beautiful natural acidity creeps up on you.

Grape: Pinot Gris

Biodynamic