2021 Pinot Noir Heritage Cuvee
Appellation
Willamette Valley
In Stock
Vineyard Notes
Our Heritage Cuvee is produced from Pinot Noir grapes grown in Oregon's northern Willamette Valley. Fruit from our four Heritage Vineyards are blended to create a Pinot Noir with complex flavors and textures from these diverse sites. This is when we began making wine from each of these remarkable sites. Freedom Hill-1992, Temperance Hill-1994, Shea-1994, Momtazi-2006.
Production Notes
Release Date: Oct 2024; Production 84 cases. The de-stemmed grapes were fermented in small stainless and Burgundy oak fermenters with no SO2, allowing the fermentations to process naturally. After gentle pressing and settling, the wine aged in French oak barrels, 22% of which were new, for 16 months before bottling by gravity and without fining.
Food Pairing Notes
This wine will match well with a wide variety of medium weight foods: grilled salmon, lamb, pork tenderloin and pasta dishes with full-flavored preparations.
Winemaker Notes
Vintage Notes: 2021 began with a warm spring and a relatively early bloom, which was complete by the second week of June. A massive heat spell around June 27th head temperatures reaching up to 113 degrees. This significantly stunted growth in younger plants limiting their ability to ripen a normal crop. The younger vines at our estate essentially stopped growing as well as the Riesling at Temperance Hill. The summer continued with a heat spell in late June and mid-July. Because of these high temperatures, mildew was not a significant problem in 2021. We began picking Chardonnay on 9/13 and the first Pinot noir on 9/15. A slight rain event on September 18th and 19th brought much-needed moisture to the vines. By the 24th, all of the Chardonnay and most of the Pinot noir were picked. We finished picking in the first week of October, with the exception of the Riesling, which came in on 10/14. In the end, we were happy with the fruit and very thankful that there were no fires to complicate the harvest.
Drink
Up to 10 years