WINE ADVOCATE SCORE: 91+
WINE SPECTATOR SCORE: 90
CERTIFICATIONS: 100% Organically Grown Pinot noir
AGE OF VINES: ~9 years
CLONES/ROOTSTOCKS: Pommard, 777 on 3309, 101-14
NUMBER OF DAYS OF FERMENTATION: ~10 days
TYPE OF FERMENTATION: One-ton and three-ton open top fermenters, punched down 3 times/day
ALCOHOL: 14.0%
LENGTH AND TYPE OF AGING: 100% barrel aged, ~16 months in barrels: 50% new, 50% once-used, 100% French oak
BOTTLED: March 2010 (unfined and unfiltered)
BOTTLE AGING PRIOR TO RELEASE: ~10 months
NUMBER OF CASES PRODUCED: 185
WINEMAKER’S COMMENTS: The 2008 growing season began in typically wild Pacific Northwest fashion. After a cold, wet January, we had a relatively dry and pleasant February. March was about average for rainfall but we had a surprising dusting of snow right at the end of the month. April began gently with a few showers and even some 80o weather early on, then it got wild – the second half of the month was very cold, with snow, impressive hailstorms, and one day with gale force winds! May was much calmer and fairly dry, with mild weather except for one four-day heat spike in the middle when we hit 100o. June, July, and the first half of August were typically dry, with four periods of extremely hot weather before things cooled off in the second half of August, when we had some heavy fall-like rainstorms. September was very dry and, except for a couple of hot days, was mostly cool and crisp, with mild days and cold nights. Harvest began slowly with a bit of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris on September 30 and October 1 then we had to stop for a week of showers and even one heavy downpour of about an inch in 24 hours. We got going again on October 8 and had a nice leisurely three weeks of harvest under mostly clear skies with mild days and cold nights. Overall an exceptional harvest, with perfect maturity and sugars right at the ideal 22.5o to 23.0o brix level that allow us to make wines of elegance and structure with alcohols under 14%.
“Crisp tannins are wrapped around a delicate core of red berry, cinnamon and slightly stemmy flavors, the finish persisting nicely.” – Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator