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Swick Wines

Auxerrois 2019

Price: $29.95
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Tasting notes

Auxerrois is almost never bottled as a varietal skin-contact wine — this one shows exactly why it should be. Thirty days on the skins pull out texture and a saline mineral edge without obscuring the grape's natural grapefruit and orange blossom aromatics. The volcanic basalt soils of Zenith Vineyard at 600 feet give it a stony quality that keeps the wine focused and dry.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
ApricotGrapefruitOrange BlossomSalinity
  • Style: Dry orange wine; golden-amber; floral, citrus, and mineral; 30-day skin maceration
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Auxerrois; Zenith Vineyard, Eola-Amity Hills AVA; ~600 ft elevation; volcanic basalt soils; sustainable farming
  • Winemaking: 100% whole cluster; native yeast fermentation; 30-day skin maceration; foot-trodden; 6 months in 600L neutral French oak; unfined, unfiltered; minimal SO2 at bottling
  • Serving: Serve at 50-55F; no decanting needed; enjoy within 2-3 years of vintage
  • Pairing: Roasted chicken, raw oysters, grilled branzino, soft-ripened cheese, charcuterie with pickles
  • Similar To: For fans of skin-contact Pinot Gris or Alsatian Pinot Blanc who want more texture and minerality

This is 100% Auxerrois sourced from Zenith Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, situated at around 600 feet elevation on volcanic basalt soils. Zenith is sustainably farmed, using no herbicides, in-row cultivation, hand-hoeing, and their own compost. The Van Duzer Corridor funnels cool Pacific air through the valley each afternoon, keeping acids firm at harvest.

Winemaking is minimal. Grapes are fermented as whole clusters with 30 days of skin maceration using native yeast, worked by foot one to two times daily with no temperature control. The wine then ages for six months in a 600-liter neutral French oak barrel before bottling unfined and unfiltered with a small addition of sulfur.

The result is a golden-amber skin-contact wine with a floral, citrus-driven nose — apricot, grapefruit, orange blossom — and a palate that leans mineral and saline rather than fruity or heavy. Joe Swick describes the Auxerrois as the secret ingredient in his blended orange wine The Flood, noted for its salinity and aromatic lift.

Auxerrois is a low-acid white grape variety, a full sibling of Chardonnay, rarely bottled as a varietal. In Oregon's cool sites, the grape holds freshness it can lose in warmer climates. The 30-day maceration adds structure and grip without masking the variety's natural floral and citrus character.

Serve with roasted chicken, grilled branzino, or any dish with a squeeze of citrus. The saline mineral quality makes it a natural match for raw oysters or charcuterie with pickled accompaniments. It holds up well alongside soft-ripened cheeses like Camembert or mild washed-rind styles.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Auxerrois
Farming:, Sustainable
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, N/A
Country:, USA
Region:, Willamette Valley
Appellation:, Eola-Amity Hills AVA
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


Canceling an Order

If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

We are not responsible for heat- or frost-related issues. We offer ice-packs upon request. Please let us know if you think that there could be heat-related issues. If we don't hear anything from you regarding weather issues before an order is shipped, or if you don't request a hold due to the weather, we are not responsible for heat/frost damage.


Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Swick Wines

Joe Swick is a fifth-generation Oregonian, born and raised in Portland. He entered the wine industry in 2003 with a cellar position at Owen Roe Winery, then spent a decade working over 15 harvests across Oregon, California, New Zealand, Tasmania, Portugal, and Italy — including time with Julien Labet in Jura and Simon Busser in Cahors. He founded Swick Wines in the Willamette Valley in 2013.

Swick sources exclusively from organic, biodynamic, and sustainably farmed vineyards in Oregon and Washington, prioritizing higher-elevation, cool-climate sites where grapes ripen later with lower sugars and higher acidity. He works with Zenith Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, which uses no herbicides, employs hand-hoeing and in-row cultivation, and applies synthetic treatments only in high disease-pressure years instead of relying on heavy copper and sulfur use.

Winemaking follows a strict non-interventionist approach: native yeast fermentations only, no temperature control, no acid corrections, no fining or filtration. Sulfur is added in small amounts at bottling on select wines when Joe judges it necessary for stability. Skin-contact wines typically see 30 days of maceration, which Joe considers the point at which tannins soften from aggression into balance, worked by foot one to two times daily.

Wine region

Willamette Valley, USA

The Eola-Amity Hills AVA sits within the Willamette Valley, northwest of Salem, Oregon. Vineyard sites run from 250 to 700 feet in elevation on a north-south ridge with lateral east-west spurs. Soils are primarily Jory series volcanic basalt-derived clay loams at higher elevations, with Willakenzie marine sedimentary loams on the lower and western slopes — both shallow, well-drained, and low in vigor.

The defining climate feature of this AVA is the Van Duzer Corridor, a gap in the Coast Range that channels cool Pacific Ocean air into the valley each afternoon, sharply dropping temperatures during the critical late-summer ripening window. This thermal pattern preserves natural acidity in the fruit. The AVA was established in 2006 and covers 39,200 acres, with around 3,040 acres planted, predominantly to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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