Inside Domaine Serene's Sparkling Program

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Who else is waking up at 3:00 am instead of 4:00 because of the time change? Yeah, I figured I would be the only person. It’s so easy to see the dark slowly fade into the day at 4:30 pm and get all down about it. Trust me, I have had my moments this week, but I do my best to say nothing has changed except for less sunlight. I don’t get to work on my deck. I don’t get to go for bike rides in the evening. It is raining more. It’s more challenging to see in the dark while it is raining. The sunsets are pretty much nonexistent. Sitting in the car while my daughter is at ballet is colder. I need a flashlight to grill my food outside, but outside of those things, everything is just ducky!I was thinking back to summer, oh wonderful summer! It was a summer full of sunshine and Bubbles! I also had the pleasure of sitting with winemaker Rachel Zasadni at Domaine Serene to talk Sparkling! I wanted to include this interview inside the Sparkling Report, but I simply ran out of time. Maybe it was me enjoying summer and Bubbles too much? Nah, I think it was me being overly ambitious and not properly managing my time. Anyway, let me take on a journey of Domaine Serene’s Sparkling program.

The date was December 31, 2018. Domaine Serene held a Bubble Ball to bring in the New Year and celebrate the release of their very first Sparkling. It was a night filled with great food, stories, Bubbles, and fireworks. I looked back over my pictures and dug up only one image. I found some more on The Gram and stole a few.

If you have been following along my Sparkling journey over the summer, you are very well aware releasing your first Bubbles into the wild is a big thing. Domaine Serene started their program in 2014 with three bottles (Multi-Vintage Brut, Blanc de Blanc, and a Vintage Brut). We might get to see the Blanc de Blanc released this winter and possibly see the Vintage Brut late next year.

The first few years, a French consultant helped with the Sparkling program, but in 2017 Rachel took the reins and has ramped up production from 1,000 in 2014 to an estimated 5,000 cases for 2021. I tasted the M.V. 3 Brut, M.V. 2 Rose, and M.V. 2 Fleur de Vie with Rachel. For 2020, there are six different bottles (M.V. Brut, M.V. Rose, M.V. Fleur de Vie, Vintage Blanc de Blanc, Vintage Rose, Vintage Blanc de Blanc). Rachel is trying to have a vintage Brut that can go up to 10 years or more on triage. Currently, everything is five years or more.

It’s been amazing to see the growth of Domaine Serene as a whole in terms of the French side of the house, the Clubhouse, the Portland Wine Bar, the Lake Oswego Wine Bar, and soon the Bend Wine Bar. As Rachel was telling me how all of the fruit for the Sparkling program comes from estate Dundee Hills, I had to ask, “Are there any plans to make and French Sparkling?” I mean, this only makes sense, right? So many French wines, why not!! Sadly, there are no plans for any French Bubbles.

I want to back up a teeny bit for those who may not understand the difference between Vintage and Multi-Vintage. Getting our head around Vintage is the typical 2019 Jerusalem Hill Pinot Noir meaning grapes from 2019 are in the bottle. Multi-Vintage is, you guessed it, multiple years of grapes go into the bottle. Making Sparkling is so complex already, and adding in numerous years of wine into the equation keeps the brain ticking, engaged, and this is why Rachel has enjoyed working at Domaine Serene for 10+ years.

She graduated from Ohio State, where most of her family lives, except for her Aunt, who lives in California. In California, Rachel was working for Williams Selyem and was scheduled to work harvest in Oregon, chasing Pinot. Rachel wanted to understand the ins and out of how Oregon was making Pinot. Her first wine from Domaine Serene was during the interview process. She instantly fell in love with the 2008 Evenstad Reserve and got the position instead of working harvest.

Ever since I had the first sip of M.V. 1 New Year's Eve, I kept hearing how Rachel spearheaded the Sparkling program for Domaine Serene. A fellow peer at Domaine Serene calls her a “Badass.” Last year, she and her husband had a baby, and she has been known to bring her little one into work, walking the vineyards, and talk to other staff members.

Another aspect of producing Bubbles is creating the culture that goes into the bottle for secondary fermentation. Like most wineries, Domaine Serene uses the services of Andrew Davis’s of Radiant for production but only uses the triage bottling service. Andrew Davis could make the culture, but Rachel has also taken on this task. She describes it as the “most stressful” part of the Sparkling process, “Building the culture is one of the essential steps in the making a sparkling. Making sure the culture is strong, and cell counts are good is paramount for creating those fine delicate bubbles we all enjoy.“

I found a quote from Rachel on the interwebs, “Every moment starts with a sketch,” and I had to ask, “Is wine art?” Her answer is nothing short of beautiful! “Oh, absolutely. That's why I got into the industry in the first place is. I've always been an artist. I've always studied biochemistry. For me, winemaking was the perfect combination of both science and art because it's not just the numbers. It's not just the growing season and the biology of the plant. All that obviously is hugely important, but it's the sensory of it. It's piecing together blends. It's making the right picking decisions based on flavor development and your senses. All of that was so intriguing to me and is what pulled me into this industry in the first place. It is a perfect combination.”

As we were tasting the M.V. 3 Brut, I remembered a few weeks back Owen Bargreen also tasted through the same three wines. He spoke highly of the wines, and I couldn’t agree more, but I wondered how much different his visit was compared to mine in the back of my head. Owen is a fantastic person, and there is no way I will ever catch up to his knowledge of wine. He is all about the wine, while I take a different approach to know the people behind the wine. As the conversation directed more about life and less about wine, I was fortunate to hear a fantastic Oregon Pinot Rachel story.

In 2011, Domaine Serene hired Erik Kramer as winemaker. Rachel had the opportunity to work with Erik a little, and during a gathering, he showed up with a bottle, Rachel still has the bottle today. It was an 82 Pinot from Adelsheim and is Rachel’s birth year. She was so blown away by his generosity. Rachel describes wine as, “Wine is joy in life. It is forever changing. The bottle of wine you open today is going to be different in a month from now or three years because it’s breathing, and that’s a beautiful thing.”

Even though the move up to Oregon was all about chasing Pinot, Rachel speaks very highly of Chardonnay overall in the Valley and never thought she would be working in a Sparkling program in a million years. She absolutely loves it, though! Many other projects are in the mix at Domaine Serene that pushes Rachel in lovely unimaginable directions!

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to sit down with Rachel. First, I wanted to know more about the winemaker behind the Sparkling program. More importantly, I wanted to dive in a bit on how come I hadn’t heard much about Rachel in the past ten years at Domaine Serene. Coming away from the interview, I think a critique of one of her watercolors sums up Rachel perfectly, “Some of your waters colors have been described as one who draws and paints casually and unobtrusively, with more skill and vision than she lets on.” Rachel does amazing magic with the Sparkling program at Domaine Serene. She knows in her soul how much she knocks it out of the ballpark but prefers to stay in the background while being humble and ensuring the whole team gets credit where credit is due. With the birth year of 1982, the magical age of 40 will make itself known next year to Rachel. It is the decade of life where you start to feel more comfortable in your skin. I wrapped up the interview by planting a seed for Rachel to think about, “You stand shoulder to shoulder with other legendary female winemakers in the Valley such as Lynn Penner-Ash, Wynn Peterson-Nedry, and countless others! I am here to let other people know how amazingly awesome you are and to help toot your horn!”

My notes on the wines.

Brut M.V. 3

The M.V. 3 brings in a bit of the older wine used from M.V. 1, making this year’s release all that much more extraordinary. The mouthfeel brings about a delightful amount of bubbles. However, the finish is what you need to pay attention to. Once the bubbles dissipate, brioche flavors slowly come forth, gradually increasing more and more until you unconsciously say out loud, “Wow!”

Fleur de Vie Demi Sec M.V. 2

The Fleur de Vie definitely hits the mark with an exquisite bubble mouthfeel. The sweetness is tightly integrated until the bubbles dissipate, leaving a non-overpowering amount of sweetness continuing onto a pleasant finish perfect for that decadent dessert you have been depriving yourself of.

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I am very much looking forward to trying the Vintage Blanc de Blanc. When you make a reservation feel free to say, "A.J. sent me," but more than likely, the person confirming the reservation will not know me.

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With Gratitude,

A.J.

PS - I can't believe this is a real thing, Arby's Vodka in Curly and Crinkle Cut Fry Flavors.

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