In classic Oregon fashion, the weather during the 2002 harvest was a little bit of everything. A beautiful summer growing season led right up to the beginning of our harvest on September 14. We picked a small amount of Pinot Noir that day, then the following day it turned cool and overcast followed by a day of heavy rain. By the time it dried out enough to get going again, a week had gone by. Then the weather turned quite hot and we were able to harvest for a week before the rains kicked in again. We endured a full week of cold temperatures, heavy rains and even some thunder and lightning, before it again turned dry and sunny and we had two nice weeks to finish up the harvest under ideal conditions. Given the wildly changeable weather we experienced during the harvest, it is truly remarkable that the wines of the 2002 vintage are so wonderful.

The grapes for this wine came entirely from our own vineyards. The blend is 40% old vines (from the 25 year-old Watershed Block and the 30 year-old Old Vineyard Block) and 60% from some of our more recently planted vines, four year-old blocks we call Peach Tree and Goosepen. The aromas and flavors now are predominantly black cherry, cola and blackberries, but the distinctive Sokol Blosser earth and truffle characteristics that develop with time in the bottle are just beginning to kick in. Full-bodied, deep and dense, with smooth, polished tannins, this wine combines the complexity and length of old vines with the intensity and exuberance of younger vines.

The release of our 2002 Pinot Noir bottlings marks the debut of the Dundee Hills as an official, U.S. government approved American Viticultural Area, or AVA. This means that the grapes for wines displaying the Dundee Hills AVA on the label came from this small, unique region here in the northern Willamette Valley that we consider the epicenter of Oregon Pinot Noir.