Artist Block, Woo Juice and the Creative Quest

Last spring Artist Block launched their new tasting room, art studio and gallery in Dundee, with a core mission to feature artists and winemakers, and to promote new young creative talent. Artist Anna Sweet is at the creative helm, and Bree Stock MW is supervising the wines. After tasting three of the first releases, and spending some time on the website, it quickly became clear that this is plowing genuinely new ground, even in a place where innovation has been baked into the DNA since the first vines went into the ground decades ago.

The initial press release noted that “Anna Sweet is a Manhattan School of Visual Arts dropout success story. Her art has been represented across the globe and coveted by collectors worldwide. Anna conceived of Artist Block in 2019 when she and her husband purchased a vineyard in the Dundee Hills. Her aim was to create a brand that championed young creative talent and the symbiotic relationship between art and wine.”

In that first announcement Bree Stock was introduced as “Oregon’s only female Master of Wine, Artist Block’s resident winemaker and a mentor to a community of young winemakers. A committed educator and industry leader, she believes that Oregon wine country is ‘a place filled with unlimited potential, limited only by our imaginations’.”

I asked each of them to comment specifically on their strategies for attracting new ideas, new creativity and new consumers to Oregon wines. I was also flabbergasted at the sheer vitality of the three wines I tasted, which not only improved after being open for 24 hours, but drank beautifully after 48 and even on the fourth day. To me that is rare and exceptional.

Sweet notes that she is building “an open-minded audience seeking new, inspiring, and high-quality experiences. I didn’t necessarily create this project with a particular person in mind,” she explains; “I’m still learning who my target audience is. I’m creating a brand and space that reflects my personality, taste, and style. My hope with Artist Block is to create a high-quality wine brand that does not intimidate and welcomes a new audience into the world of fine wine.”

“None of her labels,” says Stock, “look like traditional wine branding (no family crests or regional names) and the wine inside the bottle is designed to match this approach by being high quality and familiar in taste but more colorful and unfiltered.”

Although I have not yet personally visited the tasting room, it’s intended to be non-traditional and offer visitors a chance to “peek behind the curtain into a bright airy modern art and pop sculpture gallery. The tasting sheet,” Stock continues, “is a colorful choose-your-own-adventure – Artist Block wines interspersed with Limited Addition wines ; the Young Guns flight which celebrates new young winemakers; or the I Don't Give a F@#K option which is whatever is exciting the staff.”

I look forward to tasting more Artist Block releases in the future, but these first three lived up to the ambitious goals as Bree describes them. “These are wines for a new generation who are promiscuous in their approach to beverages (both alcoholic and non). They love to jump from a cider to a cocktail to a shrub or an orange wine and back to a traditional bold red. No defining what you are supposed to drink or what that should look like; these are free thinkers and their food and beverage is a journey of discovery and excitement.”

As for the impressive vitality of these wines, she believes that “they can do this is because they are unfiltered and unfined and are not manipulated (only native yeast, and left on their fine lees right up until bottling). These wines are living creatures that live in contact with oxygen and have not been over-sulfured during their early life. I want to capture the energy of the vintage and the grape in the bottle and the less I move the wine, rack the wine, filter the wine more alive and intact it remains.”

Artist Block 2021 Yummy Yummy Yummy Pinot Gris – This is a skin contact version (a bit like the PG from Big Table Farm) that puts a deliciously different spin on this classic Oregon white wine. The color of rosé, the flavors are accented with red fruits as well as the usual tart citrus and apple. Aged in neutral oak and stainless steel, it’s a style entirely fitting for this new winery’s inventive approach to making and selling wine. Drinking quite well on the third day. That said, it’s a bit of a challenge to find the right food match (I swung and missed with a pork roast). 170 cases; 12.9%; $51 (Yamhill-Carlton) 93/100

Artist Block 2021 Woo Juice Chardonnay – You can’t miss the impact of barrel fermentation from the first sniff of this heavily extracted, toasty wine. The winery calls it a “shot berry selection” – unusual as shot berries are generally discarded rather than selected when sorting grapes. Flavors are concentrated, tart and textural, with blood orange, grapefruit, barrel spice and feral wild yeast accents. Somehow the clash of flavors and styles works surprisingly well, hangs together and lingers through the finish. Still fresh and delicious on day three. Not your grandmother’s Chardonnay by a long shot!. 140 cases; 12.9%; $75 (Eola-Amity Hills) 94/100

Artist Block 2021 XXX Pinot Noir – Supremely aromatic and lush with detail, this extraordinary Pinot Noir charms immediately. The cascading scents and flavors roll seamlessly through citrus, stone fruits, mountain berries and tart cherries. There’s a hint of leather and composted earth, and a finish that gathers strength in the back palate and suggests long term ageability. It’s a marvelous, complex wine that resonates long after you’ve swallowed. Still drinking well after being open for three days. Wow!

70 cases; 13%; $75 (Chehalem Mountains) 96/100

Purchase Artist Block wines here.

Featured Value Wine

Sineann 2022 Abondante Red

This unique blend is sourced from vineyards near the Dalles, far enough east to be outside the Columbia Gorge AVA, but in the slim slice of the vast Columbia Valley AVA that crosses the river into Oregon. This is a generous and versatile red blend, roughly half Merlot and half Zinfandel, with flavors of red currants, strawberries and peppery herbs. Despite its youth there are no rough edges, and the tannins have a gentle graininess that adds some texture to the finish. Note that the website still lists the 2021 which quite truthfully is every bit as good as this 2022, and probably benefits from an extra year of bottle age. Really well made Columbia Valley reds rarely show up at this price. 500 cases; 14.8%; $20 (Columbia Valley) 91/100

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