This wine is intensely concentrated and fruit-forward, with cherry and cinnamon on the nose and black plum and cranberry on the palate. It’s intensely juicy and full with a long finish.
VINTAGE 2023 required experience and patience that was rewarded with essential hang-time and ripening. The growing season started cool, then May sunshine brought an average bloom in mid-June followed by a glorious summer. We enjoyed many classic 80-degree Willamette Valley days, with nighttime highs staying down in the 50s even in August, typically the warmest month here in Oregon. The only exception to these consistent diurnal swings was a single big heat spike in mid-August. We anticipated picking in early September. However, some fortuitous rain events allowed us to push back harvest and we were thankful for the additional hang time.
Harvest came early, but not too early. We brought in beautiful fruit and we were pleased to still be picking Pinot noir into early October. When you have fast accumulation of fruit sugars, cool weather can be a welcome respite with even small amounts of rain helping the grapevines regulate and slow ripening. One of the reasons why Oregon Pinot Noir is so prized is for its freshness of fruit, and you can only get that vibrancy when it’s under 50 degrees during picking.
2023 brought amazing fruit quality, but our production was down, especially on cool climate white wines like Pinot Gris. Being an estate grown winery, we must follow Mother Nature’s lead as we cannot buy fruit to increase production. Smaller yields do mean a smaller crop and less wine, but we embrace vintage variation. Another great benefit of being estate grown is that it’s our decision exactly when to pick. Rather than rushing to bring fruit into the cellar, in 2023 were able to play the odds and wait out the rain on blocks that needed additional hang time to get the flavor development we needed.
Condor is sourced from Elk Cove Vineyards’ esteemed La Bohème Vineyard West Block’s 35-year-old vines. In 2023 we used traditional methods and included some whole cluster fermentation for spice and structure. The wine was aged for 10 months in French oak. It’s ready to drink now, but will improve with additional time in bottle.
In 2007 Elk Cove co-founder Joe H. Campbell M.D. volunteered in a small medical clinic in Arequipa, Peru. Before returning home to Oregon, he asked his colleagues how he could continue to help. They told him the most critical health need was for food assistance.
The community had a kitchen that provided a meal to 600 of the neediest, but an additional 4000 often went without a daily meal. Because of Joe’s experience as a winemaker, he came up with a plan to produce a limited production wine each year, all proceeds of which would contribute to the hunger relief program.
Cheryl and I have been buying Condor since Joe and Pat first started producing it. First we gave the wine to my clients, and when I retired, we gave it to very grateful friends. There hasn’t been a bad vintage in the bunch and we have kept at least one bottle of each vintage to sample with the Campbells and Fr. Alex the next time he is in Portland. Extraordinarily good Pinot Noir for an extraordinarily important cease.
Enjoyed this 2019 Pinot Noir. It had a little sweetness on the palette and was very smooth.
I’ve been sending Condor, along with its story, to my clients for several years. It gives them the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine for good! Of course, we also order a case for ourselves. It is consistently excellent and we look forward to purchasing it every year.
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