Joe Swick
Joe Swick is a 5th generation Oregonian, born and raised in Portland. He got into the wine business working as a shipping/receiving clerk at a specialty organic food store in Portland, where he was able to taste a lot of different wines and meet a lot of Oregonian winemakers. He worked his first harvest in 2003 in Oregon, and from then until 2012 he worked 15 different harvests, traveling all over the world as far as Tasmania, France, Portugal, and Italy. He even spent some time with the legendary Simon Busser in Cahors, France. Joe returned to Oregon in 2013 to start Swick Wines in the Willamette Valley. He works only with sustainable or organically farmed vineyards that are not irrigated, from cooler climate locations. Many of the wines have zero sulfur added, a direction Joe is excited to continue pursuing.
https://www.facebook.com/swickwines/
- Blanc de Noir Cancilla Vineyard
- Verdelho Columbia Valley
- Cancilla “Hibernation” Pinot Noir
- Melon de Bourgogne
- Cancilla Vineyard “Ken’s Pom” Pinot Noir
- Verdelho Petillant Naturel
- Rose of Pinot Noir Petillant Naturel
- Grenache Blanc
- Willamette Pinot Noir
- Pinot Noir Rosé
- Columbia Valley Mourvedre
- Sec Siemefe Touriga Nacional
- Cancilla Vineyard Sans Soufre Pinot Noir
- Ellaguru
- Only Zuul
- Rousanne
- Marsanne
- Chenin Blanc
- WYD? U UP?
- City Pop
- Piquette 1.0-4.0
- Gamay Noir Pet-Nat
- Pet-Natch
- Albariño
- Sémillon
Blanc de Noir Cancilla Vineyard — Back to the top
Blanc de Noir Cancilla Vineyard tech sheet
Total Production: 1400 bottles
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Age of Vines: 18 years
Yields: 5 tons per hectare
Altitude: 700 feet
Soil: Sedimentary transitioning into Volcanic
Varieties: 100% Pinot Noir
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The skins are never in contact with the juice, and the wine ferments in 228-liter 4-6-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no battonage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
Verdelho Columbia Valley — Back to the top 
Verdelho Columbia Valley tech sheet
This wine is made from the Douro version of this grape variety (not the Madeiran Verdelho). Also known as Gouveio in the Douro Valley and Godello in Spain.
Total Production: 1600 bottles
Appellation: Columbia Valley Washington (Yakima Valley)
Age of Vines: 13 years
Soil: Loam
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228 and 500 liter 2-4-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no battonage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
Cancilla Vineyard “Hibernation” Pinot Noir — Back to the top
Cancilla Vineyard “Hibernation” Pinot Noir tech sheet
Total Production: 840 bottles
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Age of Vines: 18 years
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Soil: Sedimentary transitioning into Volcanic
Varieties: 100% Pinot Noir
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested, and the whole bunches are sealed inside a concrete egg for 6 months of fermentation. The whole bunches rests in the egg with no pigeage or pumping over. The intact berries are then pressed and combined back into the egg with the free-run juice for 4 further months of elevage. The wine is unfiltered, unfined, and has zero sulfur added.
Melon de Bourgogne — Back to the top 
The idea behind this wine is not to imitate the Muscadet style but to make a wine from Oregon, made by an Oregonian, with a grape that happens to be Melon. The soils of Oregon are completely different, hence Joe wasn’t trying to make it anything like a Muscadet.
Total Production: 1000 bottles
Appellation: Yamhill-Carlton AVA, Willamette Valley
Age of Vines: 15 years
Soil: Sandy Loam
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228-liter 8-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 1 month. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no battonage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
Cancilla Vineyard “Ken’s Pom” Pinot Noir — Back to the top
Cancilla Vineyard “Ken’s Pom” Pinot Noir tech sheet
Total Production: 400 bottles
Yield: 5 tons per hectare
Appellation: Columbia Valley Washington (Yakima Valley)
Age of Vines: 18 years
Soil: Sandy into Volcanic
Varieties: 100% Pinot Noir
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and whole bunches ferment semi-carbonically in plastic microbins for about 1 month with indigenous yeast and occasional pigeage. The wine goes into 500-liter 5-year-old barrels for about 11 months of elevage. The wine is bottled without fining or filtration and has zero sulfur added.
Verdelho Petillant Naturel — Back to the top
Total Production: 700 bottles
Appellation: Columbia Valley Washington (Yakima Valley)
Age of Vines: 13 years
Soil: Sandy Loam
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228-liter 6-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 2 weeks. The wine is bottled with a small amount of residual sugar remaining and finishes fermenting in bottle with zero filtration and zero sulfur added. The bottles are hand-disgorged and then recapped.
Rose of Pinot Noir Petillant Naturel — Back to the top
Rose of Pinot Noir Petillant Naturel tech sheet
Total Production: 400 bottles
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Age of Vines: 18 years
Soil: Sandy into Volcanic
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228-liter 6-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 3 weeks. The wine is bottled with a small amount of residual sugar remaining and finishes fermenting in bottle with zero filtration and zero sulfur added. The bottles are hand-disgorged and then recapped.
Grenache Blanc — Back to the top
Grenache Blanc tech sheet
Total Production: 1400 bottles
Appellation: Columbia Valley Washington (Yakima Valley)
Age of Vines: 13 years
Soil: Sandy Loam
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228-liter and 50-liter 2-4 year old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 4 weeks with about 24 hours in contact with the skins. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no battonage. The wine is unfiltered and has zero sulfur added.
Willamette Pinot Noir — Back to the top
Total Production: 4800 bottles
Appellation: Willamette Valley (54% Cancilla Vineyard (NW Willamette Valley) and 46% Silvershot Vineyard (Eola-Amity AVA)
Age of Vines: 13 years
Soil: Mixed Basalt and Sedimentary
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and whole bunches ferment semi-carbonically in 500-liter barrels with indigenous yeast and pigeage one to two times a day. The wine goes into 500-liter 5-year-old barrels for about 10 months of elevage. The wine is bottled without fining or filtration and has a small addition of sulfur.
Pinot Noir Rosé — Back to the top
Grape: Pinot Noir (Pommard clone)
Vineyard: Alluvial and Basalt in Willamette Valley. Cancilla Vineyard (planted 1999-2005, organic since 2009) and Greyhorse Vineyard (organic, planted in 1998)
Making of: Direct pressed. Fermented and aged in neutral French oak barrels for 6 months before bottling. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with a small addition of sulfur.
Columbia Valley Mourvedre — Back to the top
Total Production: 1800 bottles
Appellation: Columbia Valley
Elevation: 1650 feet
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Sandy/Loam
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and whole bunches ferment semi-carbonically in 500 liter barrels with indigenous yeast and pigeage one to two times a day. The skins macerate for about 30 days before pressing. The wine goes into 500-liter 5-year-old barrels for about 9 months of elevage. The wine is bottled without fining or filtration and has a small addition of sulfur.
Sec Siemefe Touriga Nacional — Back to the top
Total Production: 840 bottles
Appellation: Columbia Valley
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Alluvial
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method:Grapes are hand harvested and whole bunches ferment semi-carbonically in 500 liter barrels with indigenous yeast and pigeage one to two times a day. The skins macerate for about 30 days before pressing. The wine goes into 228-liter 5-year-old barrels for about 11 months of elevage. The wine is bottled without fining or filtration and has zero sulfur added.
Cancilla Vineyard Sans Soufre Pinot Noir — Back to the top
Total Production: 1056 bottles
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Alluvial and Basalt
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and whole bunches ferment semi-carbonically in 500 liter barrels with indigenous yeast and pigeage one to two times a day. The skins macerate for about 30 days before pressing. The wine goes into 500-liter 5-year-old barrels for about 12 months of elevage. The wine is bottled without fining or filtration and has zero addition of sulfur.
Ellaguru — Back to the top
Total Production: 150 cases
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Alluvial
Varieties: 50% Melon from Oregon, 50% Counoise from Washington
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: The two vineyards are hand-harvested on the same day and are co-fermented and ferment as whole bunches. The bunches are foot tread and the skins macerate for about 30 days in 228 liter used wooden barrels before pressing. The wine spends about 6 months in elevage and is bottled with a small addition of sulfur.
Only Zuul — Back to the top
Grapes: 50% Pinot Gris, 50% Gewurtztraminer
Vineyard: Pinot Gris from the Naches Heights AVA of the Columbia Valley. Yakima, Washington. Gewurztraminer from Eola-Amity Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley. Salem, Oregon.
Vinification Method: The two vineyards are hand-harvested and fermented separately as whole bunches, for about 30 days. Foot stomped 1-2 times daily. The wine spends about 6 months in elevage and is then blended and bottled with a small addition of sulfur.
Rousanne — Back to the top
Total Production: 23 cases
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Alluvial
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228-liter 8-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 1 month. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no battonage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
Marsanne — Back to the top
Total Production: 150 cases
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Sedimentary
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228 and 500-liter 8-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 1 month. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no battonage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
Chenin Blanc — Back to the top
Total Production: 23 cases
Age of Vines: 20 years
Soil: Sedimentary
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and immediately pressed as whole bunches. The wine ferments in 228 and 500-liter 8-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 1 month. The skins remain in contact with the juice for one week, after which they are pressed. The wine rests in the same barrels for 6 months of elevage, with one racking before bottling and no batonnage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
Wyd? U up? — Back to the top 
Total Production: 125 cases
Age of Vines: 20 years
Varieties: Willamette Valley Chardonnay
Soil: Sandy Loam
Yield: 2 tons per acre
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed. The wine ferments in 500-liter 5-year-old barrels with indigenous yeast for about 1 month. The wine rests in barrel for 8 months of elevage. The wine is unfiltered and lightly sulfured before bottling.
City Pop Pet-Nat — Back to the top
City Pop is a genre of music, born in Japan in the late 1970s & 80s.
Total Production: 200 cases
Grapes: Pinot Noir, Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Roussanne
Vineyard: sandy loam. The Pinot Noir grows in the Willamette Valley at 600 feet of altitude, the remaining grapes are from the Columbia Valley at 1,600 feet elevation.
Cellar: Pinot Noir was direct-pressed and fermented separately. Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Roussanne fermented separately with 14 days of skin maceration, with the ferments gently worked by foot 1-2 times a day. No temperature control, native yeast only. Bottled in November to finish fermentation in bottles. No fining, no filtration, a small addition of sulfur at disgorgement.
Piquette 1.0 – 4.0 — Back to the top
Grapes:
Piquette 1.0 = 50% Verdelho, 25% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Semillon from Columbia Valley (the blend used for City Pop)
Piquette 2.0 = Gamay Noir Willamette Valley
Piquette 3.0 = Cinsault Columbia Valley
Piquette 4.0 = skin-contact Pinot Gris from Willamette Valley
Cellar: After pressing the grapes for the given wine, the leftover skins were rehydrated with water, which brings out any sugars left in the pomace. After letting them soak a bit, the rehydrated pomace is pressed again for a second time and treated just like a pet-nat. The juice is bottled at about zero Brix and 7.5% to 8% ABV. Fermentation finishes in the bottle.
Personality: “Very smashable.” Joe Swick, the creator.
Gamay Noir Pet-Nat — Back to the top
Grape: Gamay Noir
Total Production: 30 cases
Vineyard: Willamette Valley
Cellar: the grapes are pressed and fermented with no temperature control and native yeast only. Bottled in November to finish fermentation in bottles. No fining, no filtration, a small addition of sulfur at disgorgement.
Pet-Natch — Back to the top
Grapes: 50% Graciano, 25% Cinsault, 25% Pinot Gris
Vineyard: Columbia Valley
Total Production: 30 cases
Cellar: the grapes are pressed and fermented with no temperature control and native yeast only. Bottled in November to finish fermentation in bottles. No fining, no filtration, a small addition of sulfur at disgorgement.
Albariño — Back to the top
Grapes: Albariño
Vineyard: Naches Heights AVA, Yakima Washington.
Making of: Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed. The wine ferments on skins for 30 days. Foot stomped 1-2 times daily. Gently pressed and then rests until spring. Bottled unfiltered, lightly sulfured.
Sémillon — Back to the top
Grapes: Sémillon
Vineyard: Konnowac Vineyard. NW Yakima, Washington.
Making of: Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed. The wine ferments on skins for 30 days, foot stomped 1-2 times daily. Gently pressed and then rests until spring. Bottled unfiltered, lightly sulfured.