Wine Our Way
The goal of COR Cellars is to produce approachable wines of great character and distinction from Washington State’s finest vineyards. As a young winemaker, Luke was exposed to the great wines of Bordeaux and the Mosel and fell in love with the idea that in Washington he could make both!
Our initial effort went into site selection and the process of matching varietals to sites around the state that matched the idea of distinctive wines which accurately reflect the state. As we grew we incorporated more and more sites and at present we work with 8 growers and over 10 vineyard sites.
Since we have sites all around Washington state, our harvest is spread out from the beginning of September until the end of October. As the grapes are brought in we ferment each lot separately and then run them into barrels or small tanks and keep each lot independent throughout the following winter.
The following Spring, blending decisions are made, red wines are run into barrels with the final blends intact and the whites are bottled young and fresh to retain their fruit and youthfulness. For our younger released red wines (MOMENTUM) we do final blending in the late Spring and the first red wines are bottled before the following winter. Our longer aged reds (Cabernet Sauvignon) remain in barrel for an additional winter and then are bottled the next spring.
Throughout the winemaking process, we aim to be as low impact as possible, using gravity when possible and handling the wines as few times as we can to raise them up into their maturity. Our goal is to have the wine in bottle represent the youthful energy and enthusiasm that we feel for winemaking and to try and relate this to the consumer by presenting the wines young but ready to drink.
We produce wines as companions to food, and feel the greatest expression is when you can share them with a great meal and all your best friends. It is in this spirit that we were initially enamored by winemaking and the message that we are trying to convey is that wine is for enjoyment and to enhance the act of eating and talking and the interchange of ideas.