Larry Stone, the founder of Lingua Franca, was at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan for three wine tasting sessions of his wines.  “Lingua Franca” has been referred to as the universal language used to connect people of diverse backgrounds, which goes back to the days when the French language was the premier language of international diplomacy.

The last white wine that was poured was Lingua Franca Sisters Chardonnay Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022.  Larry Stone named the wine after his sisters who were separated during a war.   Fifty percent of this wine was sourced from the Lynx Hill Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, while the other fifty percent came from the  high-altitude Maple Grove Vineyard in South-West Salem.  The wine is pure Chardonnay and the fruit was all hand-harvested, and whole-cluster pressed and allowed to settle for twenty-four hours in Stainless Steel tanks.  The wine was then transferred to French Oak barrels, of which twenty-five percent was new; Initial Fermentation with wild yeast, and then spontaneous Malolactic Fermentation occurred in the barrels while aging Sur Lie for eleven months.  The wines were then blended in a closed-top Stainless-Steel tank on its lees for an additional five months before bottling. This pale golden-yellow wine offered notes of pineapple, lemon, yellow flowers, ocean spray, terroir and a dash of sulfur.  On the palate, this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of green apples, pears and quince, along with fresh acidity and a touch of butter ending with a medium-count finish of fruit, refreshing salinity and terroir.  

We then tried our first red wine, Franca Lingua “Avni” Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2023.  This wine, just a week or so before the tasting, was awarded by The Wine Spectator the position of Number 16 in their list of the Top 100 of 2025.  The fruit for this wine comes from several locations, hence the Willamette Valley AVA.  One third of the wine comes from their estate vineyards, and other sites are in the Yamhill-Carlton, Van Duzer Corridor, and from the recently created Mt. Pisgah region with its uplifted marine sedimentary soils.  The fruit is hand-harvested, sorted and destemmed and are fed bin by bin into small tanks and then pumped into larger Stainless-Stee and concrete tanks, where they ferment spontaneously with wild yeasts.  Ten percent of the fruit undergoes Carbonic Maceration in airtight tanks.  After fermentation the wine is aged in French Oak barrels and casks, of which twenty-five percent is new, for eleven months on the lees.  The wines are then blended and aged for an additional three months in a tank before bottling.  This ruby-red colored wine offered notes of cherries, raspberries, and pomegranates along with lavender, sous-bois and spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of red fruits, mingling with black tea, graphite and clove with bright acidity and velvety tannins ending with a medium-count finish of fruit, terroir and licorice.

We then had the Lingua Franca Estate Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills 2022.  The wine is pure Pinot Noir and most of the fruit for this wine came from two of their finest Blocks (1 and 2), while seventeen percent came from their Block 3 with slightly deeper soil and then thirty-one percent from their higher Blocks planted with a different clone.  The fruit was hand-harvested and sorted, with the use of wild yeast fermentation in medium-sized concrete and Stainless-Steel tanks.  Nineteen percent of the fruit was done in the whole cluster and the balance destemmed and only whole berries.  The Initial Fermentation and the Malolactic Fermentation were both done spontaneously, followed by traditional punch-downs.  The wines were aged for twelve months in French Oak, of which twenty-five percent was new, then the wines were blended for an additional four months in a tank before bottling.  This deep ruby-red wine offered notes of cherry, raspberry, blackberry and pomegranates along with lavender and spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of red fruits and citrus with bright acidity and ripe tannins ending with a medium-to long-count finish of fruit and terroir.