An outstanding Walla Walla winery that will sadly no longer produce wine, I have adored Ardor Cellars wines since its inception. Whether it was their downright killer 2016 Rose or their amazing 2014 ‘Stoney Vine Vineyard’ Syrah, Ardor has made a great name for themselves with a great run of outstanding wines. Sadly Brandon and Emma Kubrock have decided to focus on other business ventures. I wanted to give Brandon Kubrock an opportunity to explain why they will no longer make wine at Ardor. He took time to also thank the wine community in his explanation.
“It was a super difficult decision to step away from Ardor Cellars, but the right decision for now. We started Ardor Cellars because we are passionate about the wine industry, but not a lot of people realized that Ardor was a (expensive) side hobby for us. With Emma working for the school district and our full acquisition of our other company, Oak Tradition, a winery supply business covering the PNW, we realized that we were spending everyday working and not focusing on the important things in life; family and health. I feel like we achieved everything we wanted with the winery. We got to work with Aryn Morell and his amazing team at M&L Production, we got to work with some of the best fruit in WA, we garnered critical acclaim from some of our favorite reviewers, but most of all we developed a base of clientele that are now like family. But after a while of running both, I was losing sleep and having panic attacks and we realized something needed to change. We also felt as though we owed it to our suppliers and clients for Oak Tradition to give them our full attention, as it is a rapidly growing business and we need to stay on top of things! So, sadly, temporarily halting the production of Ardor was our choice. Since we had put so much love, time, and energy in to the brand, we couldn’t sell it to someone else, and who knows, in a couple years we may decide to start it back up!!”
Ardor utilizes the winemaking talents of Aryn Morell who crafts wines for Morell-Pena, Gard, Alleromb as well as Matthews and Tenor. With his background in science, he makes a range of wines that are truly outstanding. The new Ardor releases were sourced from another warm vintage. The 2016 Ardor Cellars ‘Quarternarium Reserve’ Syrah (WWB, 94) is insanely good, showing wonderful range, tension and a silky mouthfeel. They also produced a rockstar white wine, the 2017 Ardor ‘Quarternarium Albus’ White Wine (WWB, 92) which is a super cool blend of four varietals that shows very serious range and weight. Learn more about this awesome lineup of Ardor wines at http://www.ardorcellars.com
Here are the great new releases by Ardor Cellars.
2017 Ardor Cellars ‘Quarternarium Albus’ White Wine- This is the reserve white wine that is a blend of Marsanne, Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc that was both barrel fermented and barrel aged. This has a lifted and perfumed aromatic profile that shows wonderful tropical and tree fruits. The mouthfeel and freshness to this wine entices. This shows wonderful tension and viscosity. Drink 2018-2026- 92
2016 Ardor Cellars ‘Boushey Vineyard’ Mourvedre- The wine was aged 19 months in used French oak prior to bottling. The wine starts off with aromas of smoked brisket, black tea, black olive tapenade and black cherry. The palate shows a wonderful mouthfeel and blackberry pie, bramble and black tea with smoked duck. This has good viscosity and will cellar well for a decade. Drink 2018-2026- 92
2016 Ardor Cellars ‘Quarternarium’ Syrah- The 2016 Ardor Cellars ‘Quarternarium’ Syrah is up there with the best that I have seen from this estate. This great wine was aged for 19 months in French oak prior to bottling. This shows wonderful aromatics that show some serious range. Milk chocolate, smoked brisket, black tea and anise aromas come to mind. The palate shows really good range with black tea, crushed mint, smoked pork shoulder and a touch of stony terroir. This is seriously good and will cellar marvelously over the next decade. Drink 2018-2028- 94