Don and Traute Moore quickly emerged as one Oregon’s top growers when they entered the wine industry in 1989, and their remarkable fruit led Willamette Valley Vineyards to create the Griffin Creek brand. Acclaimed winemaker Joe Dobbes helped put the Moores on everyone’s radar with his Griffin Creek successes, and Traute still calls Dobbes “our fourth son.” In 2008, the Moores — with son Michael — launched their own brand, and they hire various talents to make their wines. It was Dobbes who oversaw this bottling, which earned a gold medal at the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in the off-dry Riesling category. His Wine By Joe team worked with Quail Run and Crater View vineyards for this stunning Riesling that offers beautiful aromas of peach, pineapple and apple blossom. It’s deliciously complex as flavors of pineapple and baked apple are met by great acidity to balance the residual sugar of 2.6%, and there’s even a sense of tannin in the finish. The Moores, who work with 28 grape varieties, offer not only their wines at their brick tasting room in Jacksonville, but they also sell wines made with their fruit by other wineries.
Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 207 cases
Alcohol: 12%
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