Union Gap Vineyard Malbec
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2028
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Grilled ribeye steak, roasted lamb chops, blue cheese
✨ Technical Specifications
The Union Gap Vineyard is Owen Roe's estate jewel, situated on a dramatic, south-facing slope where the Yakima River carves its way through the basalt ridges of the Yakima Valley. This unique geological wind gap channels cooling breezes that moderate the intense Washington sun, preserving the grape's natural acidity. Planted in gravelly, basalt-rich soils, the Malbec vines here yield small, concentrated berries. Winemaker David O'Reilly utilizes small-batch fermentation and careful French oak aging to craft a Malbec that beautifully balances the grape's signature plush, dark fruit profile with a distinct mineral tension and savory complexity derived from this rugged estate terroir.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1999 by David and Angelica O'Reilly, Owen Roe is named in honor of the 17th-century Irish patriot Owen Roe O'Neill. Operating across the Pacific Northwest, the winery bridges Washington’s Yakima Valley and Oregon’s Willamette Valley, celebrating cool-climate microclimates, diverse volcanic and windblown loess soils, and dry, high-sunlight ripening conditions. Following a brief period under corporate ownership, the O'Reilly family repurchased the estate in 2024 to reassert their founding independent vision. The viticultural and cellar philosophy prioritizes rigorous low-yield vineyard management, hand harvesting, small-lot fermentations, and judicious use of French oak barrel aging to preserve varietal clarity and site-specific typicity. Sourcing from benchmark terroirs such as Red Willow and DuBrul, Owen Roe produces critically acclaimed single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Chardonnay alongside value-driven cuvées under their Sharecropper’s and Corvidae labels, delivering structured, cellar-worthy expressions marked by vibrant acidity and deep concentration.
🍇 Grapes
Malbec