Daedalus Cellars is the dream of its owner, winemaker and originator, Aron Hess. In 1996, during an afternoon swooning once again over Red Burgundy, he resolved to move to Oregon--sight unseen--and make Pinot Noir himself. Following a trip to Pamplona and an unfortunate incident with a young steer, Aron returned to the United States to recuperate and finish his graduate thesis. Five months later, he moved to Oregon with everything he owned in the back of a borrowed car, $1,500 in his pocket, a clear vision and unwavering determination.
In 2000, after time spent working for Flynn Vineyards, and on his assent to head winemaker for Rex Hill Vineyards, Aron realized his dream when he and Pam Walden started Daedalus Cellars. The first production was four barrels of Pinot Noir from Phelps Creek Vineyard. The wine was bottled into ninety-seven 12-bottle cases and thus was born Daedalus Cellars. Ten years later Daedalus has grown to around 3800 cases annually.
The focus of our production is Pinot Noir, though we also passionately produce small amounts of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner, Dry and Dessert Riesling. Sourcing from some of the state's best vineyards, we work closely with our vineyard managers, diligently monitoring the vineyards throughout the growing season and bringing the fruit in at the last moment, when it has reached its fullest potential.
In the winery, we closely monitor the fermentations, but trusting nature, we do as little as possible. We employ long cold soaks, which gently build structure from the finest-grained tannins. Employing spontaneous fermentations and minimal gravity-fed handling exclusively helps to build and preserve silky, supple mouthfeel and complex flavors.
Our vineyard sites allow us to harvest balanced fruit at full maturity: bursting with flavor, with modest alcohol potential and--most importatnly to us--the natural acidity that wines require to accompany food properly and to age gracefully. We recommend that you cellar our wines for five to ten years to get the most enjoyment from them. If you drink them earlier, we suggest that you decant them. The aeration will improve the aromatics, and the depth of flavors that you will experience.
The name Daedalus comes from Greek mythology, by way of James Joyce, Aron’s favorite writer. Stephen Dedalus appeared as Joyce’s alter ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and again, with his wings clipped, in Ulysses. In the myth, Daedalus was an inventor, most famously of the Labyrinth at Knossos, a stylized version of which is represented in our logo. Unfortunately, he was also later imprisoned in his Labyrinth, along with his son Icarus. They managed to escape, with wings Daedalus crafted of wax and feathers. Only Daedalus made it; Icarus succumbing to hubris and flying too close to the Sun. The wings are featured on our bottle labels. We chose the name, the myth if you will, because we see in it what we think Joyce saw: the freedom that can be gained in creative pursuit, and the cost at which it can come, especially if you don’t remain humble.
“This race and this country and this life produced me, he said. I shall express myself as I am.”
(Stephen Dedalus in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.)
This quote that appears on our front labels refers both to Pinot Noir as a grape that is particularly expressive of its terroir, and to the personal philosophy of Daedalus Cellars and our commitment to natural winemaking. We make wine because we are passionate about it. Aron pursues a style in which he believes, and if other people like it enough to buy it, all the better. We hope you enjoy our wine as much as we do.
