WILLAMETTE VALLEY
PINOT NOIR

A bottle of 2021 Fossil & Fawn Pinot Noir, a red wine in a green glass bottle with a label that depicts a red monster face drinking wine against a yellow-orange background

A blend of Pinot noir barrels sourced from all the vineyards we work with across a few of the Willamette Valley sub-AVAs, with vine age ranging from 20 to 50 years. Aged in predominantly neutral oak barrels, the point is to let the fruit shine. You will find classical Oregon Pinot noir characteristics of bramble fruit (think raspberries and blackberries), smoky leather, wet rocks, and mushroomy earthiness.

DO NOTHING

A bottle of Fossil & Fawn Do Nothing, a reddish hued wine in a clear bottle with a light blue label

The name refers to how we make it and what you should do when you drink it. All the grapes that go into it (an ever-changing mix of white and red varieties) are fermented whole-cluster, entirely via carbonic maceration in sealed tanks. We can’t touch it if we wanted to! Then we indeed do a little something. The grapes are pressed and the wine is rested in tank and neutral barrel for a few months. Do Nothing tastes like Hawaiian Punch and river rocks, and is perfect with just about everything or perhaps preferably, nothing at all.

LIGHTWAVE

A bottle of Fossil & Fawn Lightwave, a deep yellow-hued wine in a green glass bottle with a label depicting the aurora borealis

Lightwave is an orange wine for people who aren’t sure they like orange wine. Call it a baby orange or a diet orange! Made from half direct pressed Chardonnay and half skin-macerated Muscat, Chardonnay, and Pinot blanc; the result is a tropical fruit explosion reminiscent of a juicy IPA with just a hint of phenolics lending a broad, mouthfilling texture.

WILLAMETTE VALLEY
PINOT GRIS

A bottle of Fossil & Fawn Pinot Gris, a red-hued wine in a clear bottle

We have been making Pinot gris as a “red wine” before it was cool (~2014). A genetic variant of Pinot noir, yet too-often misunderstood, Pinot gris gets to show off its full potential when macerated on its (pigmented!) skins. We treat it no differently than our Pinot noir in the cellar, getting a full nine months of aging in mostly-neutral barrel. The result is striking: red currant, sandalwood, and a hint of orange peel.

ONLY ALWAYS

A bottle of 2021 Fossil & Fawn Only Always, which is a white wine in a green bottle with a label of illustrated grape vines in white and red ladybugs against a bright primary blue background

“Only Always” is our little love letter to the famed field blends of Alsace and Austria. Composed entirely of Auxerrois, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer sourced from vines dating back to the early 1970’s planted at Sunnyside Vineyard in the South Salem Hills, this meets the technical requirements of Gemischter satz. Allowed to ferment fully dry in a mix of neutral French oak and newer Oregon oak, the aromatic blend has a balanced weight with notes of alpine herbs, grated ginger, black lime, and Mirabelle plums.

DARK WAVE

A bottle of Fossil & Fawn Dark Wave, a deep red wine in a dark green glass bottle with a black and white label

Dark Wave is made as an homage to passetoutgrains, a blend of Pinot noir and Gamay noir from Marin Estate Vineyard. Co-fermented entirely wholecluster, the wine is vibrantly dark, if such a thing makes sense. A deep, staining purple in the glass, the wine is structured and rich but with racy acidity keeping it light on its feet. Notes of violets, bramble fruit, and a distinct ferrous minerality.

WILLAMETTE VALLEY
CHARDONNAY

A bottle of Fossil & Fawn Chardonnay, a pale yellow-hued wine in a green glass bottle

Chardonnay carries a certain amount of baggage for many people, which sucks if it means they miss out on such a beautiful variety. We work with old-vine, Chardonnay that retains downright nervy acidity even through barrel aging in a combination of older French oak and newer Oregon oak. The wine is rich without being blousy, like fresh brioche topped with honeycomb spiked with slivers of preserved lemon.

OREGON ORANGE

Gewürztraminer is another grape that elicits strong emotions based on some bad experiences with soapy treacly versions. We get it! We approached this wine as a playful experiment: how long can we go letting a ferment sit on its skins? What would it do? Turns out, the answers are (1) more than 200 days, and (2) makes it delicious. Destemmed Gewürztraminer and Pinot Blanc hang out in egg-shaped fermenters for about eight months. The final wine is dry, textured, and tastes of orange blossoms, rosewater, and bergamot.

WILLAMETTE VALLEY
PET NAT

A bottle of 2021 Fossil & Fawn Pet Nat, which is an orange wine in a clear bottle with a label illustration in black ink of co-winemaker Jenny Mosbacher in a spacesuit on an ocean beach staring in awe at a slice of pizza against a white background

Pét Nat is made by bottling wine before completing primary fermentation, thus capturing the naturally produced carbon dioxide for a fun but often unpredictably bubbly result. Our Pét Nat is a blend of changing varieties with one constant: Niagara. The grape gives a distinct yet deceptive aroma of candy (think Hi-Chew and Smarties) for an otherwise bright, dry, and savory sparkler.

PIQUETTE

A bottle of 2021 Fossil & Fawn Piquette, a red wine in a clear bottle with a label depicting a hot dog in a bun with yellow mustard spelling "piquette" on a white napkin with black ink writing against a turquoise green background

Our piquette is made from the pomace (pressed skins, stems, seeds and all) primarily from our Do Nothing, rehydrated with water and a little Pacific Northwest-grown beet sugar and bottled to capture the bubbles. Call it “the beer of champagnes,” “hot dog water,” or “Burgundy-flavored White Claw” just don’t call this wine! At 7% alcohol, this is a fun easy-drinking fizzy beverage bursting with flavors of melted red Otter Pops, green peppercorns, and funky cherry sour ale.