In November 2017, Doug Wilder of the Purely Domestic Wine Report spent a week in in Hillsboro tasting and interviewing with select winemakers of the Willamette Valley. We are very pleased he gave our 2016 Riesling93 points:
“The nose offers tropical spice, coconut, apricot and pineapple. The palate is well-focused crisp white stone fruits in the core with beautifully integrated acidity. Drink 2017 – 2024” – Doug Wilder, PDWR
Following a twenty-year career as a specialty wine buyer at some of America’s most influential domestic retailers, Doug Wilder launched Purely Domestic Wine Report, the first independent wine review publication focused on producers in California, Oregon and Washington, exclusively. Available by subscription only.
In November 2017, Doug Wilder of the Purely Domestic Wine Report spent a week in in Hillsboro tasting and interviewing with select winemakers of the Willamette Valley. We are very pleased he gave our 2016 Pinot Gris91 points:
“The nose offers a peach-infused spice with crisp acidity. The palate is rich and bright golden stone fruit, spice and licorice finishing with sweet notes of peach and nectarine. Drink 2017 – 2021.” – Doug Wilder, PDWR
Following a twenty-year career as a specialty wine buyer at some of America’s most influential domestic retailers, Doug Wilder launched Purely Domestic Wine Report, the first independent wine review publication focused on producers in California, Oregon and Washington, exclusively. Available by subscription only.
Doug Wilder of the Purely Domestic Wine Report recently spent a week in Hillsboro tasting, interviewing and photographing select winemakers of the Willamette Valley. We were honored to be included! Here are Doug Wilder’s reviews of our wines:
2016 PINOT GRIS – 91 POINTS
The nose offers a peach-infused spice with crisp acidity. The palate is rich and bright golden stone fruit, spice and licorice finishing with sweet notes of peach and nectarine. Drink 2017 – 2021.
2016 RIESLING, ESTATE – 93 POINTS
The nose offers tropical spice, coconut, apricot and pineapple. The palate is well-focused crisp white stone fruits in the core with beautifully integrated acidity. Drink 2017 – 2024
2015 PINOT NOIR, ESTATE – 90 POINTS
The nose is a supple yet focused red cherry with notes of warm tangy cranberry. The palate is firm on entry with a silky core of moderately expressive cherry and strawberry. Admirable considering the production level here. Drink 2017 – 2028.
2015 PINOT NOIR, MOUNT RICHMOND – 92 POINTS
Pommard clone depth and spice, cherry with fragrant strawberry and blackberry. The palate is showing firm grip, tobacco, dark cherry and currant. Will age very nicely. Drink 2017 – 2030.
2015 PINOT NOIR, FIVE MOUNTAIN – 92 POINTS
The nose is dark cherry, black raspberry with shadings of black pepper and earth. The palate is a ripe blackberry that fills out the core accented by notes of mint and textured, waxy black cherry. Drink 2017 – 2030.
2015 PINOT NOIR, LA BOHÈME – 91 POINTS
The nose is licorice and spice over a generous dark cherry firmness. The palate is full bodied on entry centered on a core of black plum and cranberry richness. Should mature a bit earlier. Drink 2017 – 2024.
“Following a twenty-year career as a specialty wine buyer at some of America’s most influential domestic retailers, I launched the first independent wine review publication focused on producers in California, Oregon and Washington, exclusively. It is called Purely Domestic Wine Report, AKA pdwr and most of the content is available only by subscription.” – Doug Wilder, PDWR
“From a vineyard on the western edges of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, this displays classic Elk Cove generosity-of briary fruit, of accessible richness, of caramelly oak. Dark, juicy and robust, with a mildly floral grip of tannins, it’s youthful, deserving of a couple more years in the cellar before serving with Arctic char. 90 Points ”
This review posted in the December 2017 issue of the magazine. It will also be featured in their “Best US Pinot Noirs” list in April, 2018.
“Tightly knit and focused, with dark cherry, black tea and rose petal notes that build toward firm, minerally tannins. Best after 2018. 90 points” – Tim Fish
“Cherry and floral cinnamon aromas persist through the focused and crisply structured flavors that glide easily toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2022. 91 points” – Tim Fish
This review posted in the October 15th edition of Wine Spectator Magazine.
Our 2016 Willamette Valley Pinot Gris has been honored with a Gold Medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition!
The largest competition of American wines in the world names best American wines of 2018 After receiving 6,960 entries from 35 states across the country, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (SFCWC) has once again successfully narrowed thousands of wines down to an exclusive few.
A complete listing of the 2018 results, sortable by price point and category, can be found at winejudging.com. In the second week of January, 67 skilled judges from a variety of fields including trade, education, media, retail and hospitality traveled to the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County to determine the best wines in the USA. Utilizing an extensive process that divides the varietals into several categories and subcategories, the event gave the panels the chance to rate entries as Bronze, Silver, Gold or “Double Gold” (equivalent to a unanimous rating by all panel members). Learn more about the competition here.
The 18th Amendment was repealed 84 years ago today. What a great excuse to celebrate on a Tuesday and delve into a bit of Elk Cove history…
Pat’s great grandparents were Swiss farmers and winemakers in Helvetia, Oregon in the early 1900s. Did they make wine during Prohibition? If you were a subsistence farmer with 4 kids, 12 grandkids and 5 acres of Chasselas grapevines, what would you do?
One popular option for Prohibition era winemakers: bricks of wine, dehydrated blocks of grape-juice to reconstitute at home. Blech!
Meanwhile, Joe’s uncle Clyde Cordner toured the midwest giving rousing speeches on the evils of alcohol as a prominent temperance advocate.
Clyde’s vision of an alcohol-free utopia wasn’t realized, but decades later his nephew fell for the descendent of (alleged) bootleggers. In the early 1970’s Pat and Joe Campbell joined other “Oregon Wine Pioneers” to revitalize Oregon’s long lost wine industry.
So let’s raise a glass and be thankful we’re not drinking brick wine, bathtub gin or swill. Cheers!
Pinot Gris has been Oregon’s dominant white varietal since the year 2000, and it’s true for Elk Cove as well. Although we’ve recently started making Chardonnay again, Pinot Gris has long been our most popular white wine. Great Northwest Wine featured our 2015 Pinot Gris in their article “Pinot Gris rules Oregon’s white wine landscape” after giving the wine an “Excellent” rating:
“Year after year, one of Oregon’s largest productions of Pinot Gris also ranks among the best in the Pacific Northwest – thanks to the long-range devotion of the Campbell family and second-generation winemaker Adam Campbell. Some of their vines stem back to 1985, and the 50 acres established within Mount Richmond Vineyard stand among the largest in the North Willamette Valley. Their precise work presents this in a classic Oregon style by featuring orchard and citrus fruits rather than a tropical tone. Aromas of lemon and lime include dusty Bosc pear, honeydew melon and kiwi with clove. Its clean and crisp flavor profile brings flavors of starfruit and Gala apple, backed by melon, and finished with a nibble of pear skin.” – Andy Perdue
We’ve been making wine for four decades, but 2017 is the first year since 1978 our wines will be 100% estate grown and bottled. Elk Cove wines will be created entirely from grapes we own with “Estate Grown” appearing on the label, an important mark of quality in the wine world.
Sorting Fruit For Optimum Quality
“We’re really excited to present our fans with wines that we have complete control over from vine to bottle – other than Mother Nature’s effects of course.” – Heather Perkin, Associate Winemaker
In the first two years, founders Pat and Joe Campbell grew all their own fruit, but quickly realized they didn’t yet have the fruit quality to create a Single Vineyard Pinot Noir they could be proud of. Luckily, a chance meeting between Joe and winegrower Sandy Reese while each buying their first grapevines from fellow pioneer Charles Coury, sowed the seeds of a friendship and a winegrowing relationship between Elk Cove and Windhill Vineyard. As demand for Elk Cove wines grew we also partnered with other respected local growers to increase production and give our wines the balance we felt was needed:
Pinot Gris Cluster
“In 1978 and 1979 we made some of the very first Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs in Oregon: Our Windhill Pinot Noir. Then came the early 80’s when we had difficulty ripening certain blocks so purchasing fruit from lower-elevation sites was key. Our farming methods have improved since then, with more thinning and the use of cover crops to improve soils, so we actually get some very nice fruit from blocks we once considered marginal. Then in the late 1980’s we knew we wanted to make Pinot Gris, but were just planting our own Gris vines. We began purchasing fruit to develop our winemaking style as our own vines matured. It may seem like a slow process, but that’s viticulture – it can take decades to get the results you want.” -Pat Campbell, Elk Cove Founder
Our family has spent the last forty years planting ten to twenty acres of vines each year and investing in an impressive portfolio of vineyard sites. The Elk Cove Winery Estate, home to our esteemed La Bohème and Roosevelt blocks, came first in 1974. Then we purchased and continued planting at Windhill, Mount Richmond, Five Mountain, Clay Court and lastly Goodrich. The diversity of these vineyard sites is truly what has allowed Elk Cove to go 100% Estate:
Adam Campbell in our Barrel Room
“We now have the lower elevation Mount Richmond, very similar to the Elk Cove Estate with Willakenzie Soils, ClayCourt on Jory soil, Windhill and Five Mountain on Laurelwood, great vineyards from 250 feet to 750 feet elevation, five of which have older vines, so now we have all the elements in place. All of our vineyards are in a 20-mile radius of the winery so we can lovingly, intentionally farm each of these parcels. We finally have the right mix of vine age, soil type, elevation and microclimate to create estate grown wines that rival the finest Pinot Noirs in the world, to proudly proclaim ‘Estate Grown’ on all of our labels.” – Adam Campbell, Owner and Winemaker
Mount Richmond Vineyard has really become the backbone of our wines in both volume and quality. The older vines at this site are proving Mount Richmond to be one of the elite vineyards of Oregon. In fact, Elk Cove’s first 94 point scoring wine in Wine Spectator was awarded to our 2008 Mount Richmond. With 180 planted acres, Mount Richmond now contributes 50% of the fruit for Elk Cove’s core wines, our Willamette Valley Pinot Gris and Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. And with several newer blocks that are just coming of age, this vineyard has a promising future ahead.
Dawn at Mount Richmond Vineyard
With our entire focus on vineyards that we own, we now have full control over how our fruit is farmed and can care for our vineyards and soils for generations to come. Estate Grown will now proudly appear on the label of every Elk Cove wine produced in 2017 and beyond.
This year our winemaking interns hail from around the US – Florida, Pennsylvania, Utah, California and Oregon, with a single international student from Italy. Their experience varies, between them they have an average of two harvest seasons under their belts working in New Zealand, France, Pennsylvania and Oregon. This year we have our interns housed on two vineyard sites: Mount Richmond and Goodrich. We are enjoying 12 hour work days, hearty lunches made by Pat Campbell and daily riddles – if anyone has any good ones send them along!
Also on our crew, Elk Cove’s Shirley Brooks, VP of Sales and Marketing. Shirley is taking a “break” from the world of selling wine and managing our sales and marketing team to punch down, sort, rack and clean.
October 23rd:
We’ve brought in 90%+ of our fruit so far with some record-breaking days. Wednesday October 9th was our biggest day ever, with 110 tons landing on the crush-pad in one day. That’s enough fruit to produce 6,600 cases cases of wine. At 800 grapes/bottle, that means over 63 million grapes!
November 2nd:
November is upon us & we finally are getting a chance to catch our breath. All fruit is now in the cellar with red ferments bubbling away in open tanks and white ferments undergoing slow cold fermentation in closed tanks.
This harvest has been a classic Oregon vintage with plenty of sunny days and refreshingly cool nights only interrupted by rain a few times in late September and mid-October.
With over 40 vintages under our belt and amazing hillside vineyards we were able to pick the right harvesting windows and pick beautifully ripe fruit. Even at this very early stage we are seeing ripe tannins, fully developed flavors & classic cool climate freshness in all the wines. As always it is really too early to make any pronouncements on the vintage so stay tuned!
Our 2016 Estate Riesling was awarded 90+ points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:
“From 40-year-old vines, the 2016 Riesling Estate offers notions of lime cordial, lemonade and jasmine with a waft of honey-drizzled peaches. It’s made in an off-dry style with about 8 grams per liter of residual sugar. Crisp, clean and fresh on the light-bodied palate, there’s a compelling yeasty character lending savoriness on the mid-palate and finish. Drink dates: 2017-2021. 90+ points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
Our 2015 Goodrich Pinot Noir was awarded 94 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:
“Produced using 50% whole clusters, the 2015 Goodrich Pinot Noir has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and a fragrant nose of red roses, Bing cherries and Provence herbs with hints of underbrush, lavender and damp soil. Medium-bodied, fine, fresh and delicately-played on the palate, it has a nice foundation of grippy tannins and very appealing freshness that continues through the long finish. Drink dates: 2017-2023. 94 points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
Our 2015 Clay Court Pinot Noir was awarded 92 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:
“Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Clay Court has a pretty fragrance of lavender, rose petals and black tea over a core of pomegranate and raspberry preserves, plus a hint of underbrush. Medium-bodied, fine, fresh and elegant in style, the intense red fruits are complemented by gentle earthiness and it finishes with an herbal lift. Drink dates: 2017-2023. 92 points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
“Pale ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Five Mountain is delicately scented of cranberries and raspberry leaves with hints of black pepper, rose hips and fallen leaves. The Medium-bodied palate offers a solid frame of firm tannins and just enough freshness to lift the elegant, earthy flavors, finishing with a pleasant chew. Drink dates: 2017-2022. 91 points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
“Pale ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Mount Richmond gives an expressive mulberry, black cherry and red plum-laced nose with hints of anise, red roses and oolong tea. The palate reveals a solid backbone of grainy tannins and lively acid, supporting the generous fruit and paving the long, spicy finish. Drink dates: 2017-2024. 93 points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
Our 2015 Reserve Pinot Noir was awarded 92 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:
“A barrel selection coming from each of the five single vineyards, the 2015 Pinot Noir Reserve is scented of kirsch, dried herbs and black tea with hints of cedar, black cherries and dark chocolate. Medium-bodied, it has good concentration of black and red fruit flavors with a solid backbone of firm, chewy tannins and a long finish. Drink dates: 2017-2022. 92 points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
Our 2015 La Bohème Pinot Noir was awarded 92 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:
“Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2015 Pinot Noir la Boheme leaps from the glass with notes of ripe red currants, black cherries and violets plus nuances of fertile soil, mossy bark and cloves. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers a generous amount of ripe, rich fruit with velvety tannins and soft, approachable acidity, finishing with fruity layers. Drink dates: 2017-2023. 92 points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
Our 2015 Roosevelt Pinot Noir was awarded 94+ points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:
“This Pinot Noir comes from a vineyard planted in 1993, consisting mainly of Pommard clones. Pale ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Roosevelt has gorgeous notes of fresh cherries, rhubarb pie and violets with suggestions of bay leaves, forest floor, fungi and black tea. Medium-bodied, the palate offers a firm backbone of ripe, fine-grained tannins and plenty of freshness cutting through the intense flavors, finishing long and perfumed. Drink dates: 2017-2025. 94+ points” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown
According to Wine Advocate Magazine, a rating of 90-95 is only given to “an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”
On our estate vineyards we farm three vines in the Pinot family: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and the more unusual Pinot Blanc. These varietals are so closely related that occasionally a winegrower will discover two types on the same vine.
How does this happen? Well Pinot Gris is a natural mutation of Pinot Noir that lacks pigment in one of its two outer layers. And then there’s Pinot Blanc, which is missing the skin pigment from both layers. This is how the three Pinot grapes can look so different while sharing almost 100% of their DNA.
So are they the same wine? Absolutely not. Skin pigment plays a huge role in Pinot Noir, adding color, complexity and tannin. Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are both made as white wines, but Pinot Blanc takes on mineral components in a unique way, making it a popular varietal in Alsatian sparkling wines. Blanc is often compared with Chardonnay, with an acid profile that can vary considerably, from “flabby” to “zippy”. Blanc is known for citrus, melon, apricot, and pear flavors sometimes with almost smoky undertones.
Not many wineries grow Pinot Blanc, but it is one of our favorite varietals to make and we hope you enjoy it too. Cheers!
Pinot Blanc at Harvest
