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, in fact, until crop estimates were done in late August, we thought our crop yields would be down across the board by 50-60%. The lesson learned is don’t second guess a grapevine. 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. The coldest and wettest spring turned into the 2nd warmest and driest summer on record, and then we got to October. Everything depended on good ripening conditions (dry and warm) 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!

WINEMAKING
The grapes were harvested September 25th and 29th using our Pellenc machine harvester which destemmed the grapes as it picked. The fruit was sent directly to the press and gently pressed to minimize extraction of tannins from the skins, with the juice receiving around 4-6 hours of skin contact. We maintained an extended, slow, cool fermentation of around 2 weeks in strictly stainless steel tanks to preserve the lively fruitiness and delicate floral aromas. The wine did not spend any time aging as our intention is to create a clean, brightly fruited and delicate Rosé. By fermenting and bottling in a short time, we were able to capture the purity of fruit presented at the time of fermentation. Our 2022 Rosé is a delicate wine that balances red fruit and bright acid with a clean long finish.

WINE PROFILE
Our 2022 Rosé of Pinot Noir bursts with notes of strawberry, cranberry, kiwi, guava, and hints of rose petals. Lovely balance between the bright red fruit notes and mouth-watering acidity.

PAIRINGS
This wine will pair beautifully with bright dishes such as a stone fruit salad with burrata, pesto pasta, lamb gyro with tzatziki, as well as cheeses like brie and goat cheese.

SCORES
2022 - (90) James Suckling
2021 - (91) Savor NW
2020 - (92) VinePair, (91) James Suckling