CELEBRATING OUR 2026 SPRING RELEASE

Sometimes we have a hard time believing that Capital Call Vintners has only been around since 2020! The last six years have been a whirlwind of intense learning, exponential growth, and incredible rewards. As a young label, we are so grateful for your continued and enthusiastic support.

Our 2023 releases are special wines. We are excited to share with you the story behind how this vintage came to be.

Creating our Winemaking Philosophy

In 2021, Josh Maloney joined the team as our consulting winemaker and began to establish the distinctive Capital Call style with his first wine, the 2021 Capital Call Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon with fruit sourced from our estate Wheatfield Vines Vineyard.

“After many discussions with Steve, we decided to push the harvest dates a little later to promote a riper, rounder character in the wine, increase the amount of time on the skins to get more structure and tannin, and transition from American to French oak,” said Josh.

This shift was intentional to build wines with more depth, complexity, aging potential, and early approachability. Like spices in cooking, oak selection plays a key role in flavor (see the Wine Nerds section below for more details).

While the 2022 Terra Barone Sangiovese and Long Cork Merlot reflect an American oak influence, by the 2023 vintage we had made a full transition to our distinctive house style which showcases a refined, French oak–driven approach. 2023 marks the first vintage of the Capital Call Cabernet Franc, an earthy, spice-dusted, bold red.

“We embraced the new winemaking philosophy completely with this wine,” said Josh.

Ciao, Nero d’Avola

We are proud to be among the very few producers of the Italian grape variety Nero d’Avola on the West coast. The combination of calcium-rich soils, volcanic parent material, and a semi-arid climate at our estate Windhorse Vineyard creates an environment uniquely suited to this historic varietal, allowing us to craft a wine that is varietally true, structured, and expressive of place.

Planted in honor of Alan Busacca’s Sicilian heritage, our 2023 Windhorse Nero d’Avola is both a nod to legacy and a continued evolution of our winemaking philosophy.

To learn more about the origins of this rootstock and the inspiration behind bringing this grape to our vineyard, read this blog article.

Light, Bright, and Crisp

With the goal of producing fresh, crisp wines for spring and summer, we produced our 2025 vintages of Rosé of Sangiovese and the Gold Standard Gruner Veltliner in stainless steel, which gives them that bright edge and retains their fresh fruity character.

And by the way, our 2024 Rosé of Sangiovese earned 97 points and a Double Platinum from the Great Northwest Wine competition last year. We made the 2025 in the same style, so while there are some subtle vintage variations, you can look forward to another easy-breezy summer sipper.

Wine Nerds, this Section is for You

American Oak v. French Oak

Above we mentioned our deliberate transition from an American oak-dominant barrel program to a French oak-dominant barrel program. Barrel choices in winemaking are often compared to spices in cooking. You choose spices appropriate for achieving specific flavors in your dish. The same is true with barrels.

American oak has a loose grain, lower tannins, and imparts sweet flavors of vanilla, coconut, and butterscotch while French oak is tightly grained, has higher tannins, and offers toasty notes of smoke, baking spices, and cedar.

In switching the focus of the barrel program to French oak, our goal is to create wines of greater depth and complexity which have a greater aging potential, but are also able to be enjoyed in within a few years of vintage.

“The specific coopers we choose changes depending on the grape variety, the program we are using them for, and the vineyard from which we are sourcing the fruit,” said Josh. “We will always be tinkering with how we make these wines, increasing and decreasing the amount of oak, or the time on skins, or the harvest dates.”

The 2023 Vintage Growing Season

Capital Call Vintners has three estate vineyards: Windhorse Vineyard in the Columbia Gorge AVA and Wheatfield Vines and Carbondale Vineyards in Walla Walla AVA. 

The 2023 growing season in both AVAs was defined by low precipitation, a late start, and well-timed heat, resulting in balanced wines with excellent quality potential.

Winter rainfall was below average in Walla Walla and near average in the Gorge, leading to reduced soil moisture entering the season. A December 2022 deep freeze caused some bud damage in sensitive varieties, though impacts were variable by site.

Spring was unusually cool, with one of the latest budbreaks in recent memory. However, a dramatic warming event in mid-May (“Mother’s Day Heat”) accelerated vine growth, allowing the season to catch up quickly. Bloom, veraison, and harvest ultimately occurred at near-normal timing, with a relatively compressed growing season.

Heat accumulation was above average in both regions, though timing of heat events—rather than total heat—played a key role in vine development. Notably, extreme heat periods may have temporarily slowed physiological processes, particularly in the Gorge.

Disease pressure was low throughout the season, with minimal mildew impact and exceptionally clean fruit at harvest.

The ripening period was long and warm, providing winemakers with flexibility to pick for optimal balance and style. Harvest began in late August and extended into late October, with favorable conditions throughout.

Yields were unexpectedly light across the region (20–30% below estimates). A likely contributing factor was extreme heat post-veraison, which may have reduced berry size and cluster weight.

Overall, the 2023 vintage produced lower yields of high-quality fruit, marked by excellent fruit cleanliness, balanced ripening conditions, and strong flavor development with retained structure. We expect the 2023 vintage to show precision, concentration, and site expression across both Walla Walla and the Columbia Gorge.

Thank you to Nick Mackay, Vineyard Manager, for this excellent report!