WINE PROFILE
On the nose there are dark fruit notes of plum and bramble berry accompanied by a floral bouquet of violet and rose. This Pinot Noir is well rounded on the palate, with a balance between the tannins and fruit characteristics.

INGREDIENTS
Estate grown Pinot Noir grapes, SO2

NUTRITION FACTS
5-5OZ SERVINGS PER CONT.
Calories: 115, Carbohydrates: 3.5g, Fat: 0g, Protein: 0g

THE STORY
Bill and Susan Sokol Blosser tried their infamous and failed experiment of fencing in a block of Riesling and releasing a flock of geese to consume the grass. The experiment failed, but since then, the Sokol Blosser’s have always called this block “Goosepen.” When we had to re-plant the block due to Phylloxera, it was decided that the highest and best use of that site was for Pinot Noir and not for Riesling. To this day, Goosepen is Alex’s favorite of our single vineyard blocks. It does not have the rich tannins of its northern neighbor, Big Tree, nor the finesse of the Orchard Block. It has a lot of rich fruit that can be heavy some years and complex in others. Drinking a glass of Goosepen always reminds Alex that experimenting is a two edge sword; sometimes you get the goose, and sometimes the goose gets you!

VINTAGE HIGHLIGHTS
What started as a dry winter turned into a deluge of rain in the springtime. We had the wettest and coldest April/May/June in recorded (130 years) history. Freezing temperatures on the morning of April 14th and 15th knocked back the fragile new growth and we thought our crop yields would be down by 50-60%. In over 51 years of growing grapes here in the Dundee Hills we have never seen a freezing event during the growing season, so we had no idea what was going to happen. The primary buds froze and died, but the secondary buds came on, produced fewer but larger clusters, and the vines made a miraculous comeback. We had the 2nd warmest and driest summer on record, and then we got to October. Everything depended on good ripening conditions in the month of October since bloom was much later. Fortunately we got the warmest October in Oregon history, we were able to let the grapes hang, and the rains stayed put until all our Estate fruit was in on Thursday, October 27th. The fruit got nice and ripe, and we are thrilled with the wine produced from this vintage!