Loop de Loop Chardonnay

Loop de Loop Chardonnay

Grapes — 100% Chardonnay

Region — Underwood Mountain, Columbia Gorge AVA, Washington/Oregon

Tasting Notes — Pale gold with a crystalline clarity. The nose is expressive and site-driven — stone fruit, citrus blossom, toasted almond, and a layer of warm volcanic mineral depth underneath. The palate is lean and textured, with a bright backbone of acidity, orchard fruit, a whisper of brioche from the lees aging, and a long, clean mineral finish. No new oak — no imprint. Just Chardonnay and the mountain it came from.

The Wine — 100% Chardonnay from a small, sustainably farmed, 40+ year old vineyard on Underwood Mountain at 1,400 feet elevation — aged in stainless steel and neutral barrels for 10 months, with no new oak anywhere in the process. This is Chardonnay that earns its complexity through terroir and time, not through winemaking tricks. The site is extraordinary: volcanic, ashy sandy loam soils, buffeted by winds gusting up to 60 mph off the Columbia River, surrounded by forest and native meadows, perched on the edge of the Cascade Mountain Range an hour from Portland. Bottled entirely by hand.

Farming — Organically and regeneratively farmed. Julia and her partner Scott tend their nine-acre Light Anthology Vineyard with meticulous care and minimal disturbance — allowing native plants and wildflowers to thrive, building the mycorrhizal fungi and soil food web that they believe is the true source of energy and life in the wines. Dry farmed where possible, untilled on certain parcels. The vineyard is surrounded by forest and wild meadow — a genuinely integrated ecosystem, not a monoculture. No synthetic pesticides, no herbicides, no irrigation.

Winemaking — Wild yeasts that arrive on the fruit from the vineyard itself — never inoculated, never rushed. Julia describes her role not as a winemaker in the conventional sense but as a shepherd: she has no predetermined idea of what each wine will become, and lets the fermentation find its own path. Aged 10 months in stainless steel and neutral barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, by hand, with less than 20ppm sulfur added and nothing else.

The Producer — Loop de Loop was founded in 2012 by Julia Bailey Gulstine — a winemaker whose path to wine was anything but direct. She first encountered serious wine at 23 traveling through France and Italy, then worked at Argyle Winery and Patricia Green Cellars in Oregon before following her MA in international relations to Palestine for five years, where she made her first wine from a delivery of grapes a friend insisted she use. Inspired by those early instincts, she returned to Oregon and founded Loop de Loop with her partner Scott on a steep, wind-swept volcanic hillside above the Columbia River — one of the most singular high-altitude sites in the Pacific Northwest. Her winemaking philosophy is as clear as the mountain air: conscious farming leads to thoughtful actions in the cellar, and the wine's job is to tell the story of where it came from.

Drink It With — Grilled halibut, oysters, roast chicken with tarragon, aged Gruyère, mushroom risotto, or any meal that deserves a white wine with genuine character and a story worth telling.