The 2024 vintage here in the Willamette Valley was a winemaker’s dream: well-paced with idyllic conditions for cool climate vineyards.
The growing season started and ended cool and mild, with short heat-spikes in mid-summer. Winter and spring were wetter than average, giving the vines a head start underground. Budbreak in mid-April was followed by steady growth into June, when rains during bloom naturally lowered yields for us, lessening the need for thinning fruit. July and August were punctuated by several heat-spikes. Thankfully, the hottest temperatures occurred during the green phase of fruit maturation, while clusters are sunburn resistant. Toward the end of the growing season, a late August drizzle left our vines clean and refreshed, ripening a moderate quantity of very beautiful fruit. We looked forward to harvest with keen anticipation.
The 2024 harvest had a slower pace than typical. With the exception of some early sparkling wine picks, all fruit came in over the course of 40 days. We brought in our first Pinot the second week of September and harvest continued at a steady beat, allowing us to give each vineyard block and fermentation our optimal attention. After a very mild October with plenty of sunshine and wonderful diurnal swings in temperature, the first cold snap of November brought so much cold air, the cellar required extra heating during our white wine fermentations. The timing of harvest was close to our historic average, but within a longer window contributing to great hang-time.
Expect concentrated, fruit-forward wines with great complexity. We are hopeful that the 2024 will come to be considered a classic Willamette Valley vintage.
Elk Cove Vineyards purchased Goodrich Vineyard in 2014. A 69 acre property planted with 21 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Goodrich Road sits just outside the town of Yamhill, Oregon in the heart of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Goodrich Vineyard was planted in 2007 with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in highdensity a format. The property boasts the exact same marine sediment (Willakenzie) soil as our Mount Richmond property and lies just a few miles from our Estate Vineyard in Gaston. This young vineyard has great promise and we were so impressed by the quality of the fruit we decided to make a Single Vineyard Pinot Noir in our very first year of farming the site.
Fruit from Goodrich is fermented in small, temperature controlled steel tanks with a portion of whole-cluster fruit, hand punched down twice daily, and barreled in French oak barrels. After 10 months of aging, only the barrels that are most representative of the Goodrich profile are carefully blended to create an elegant Oregon Pinot Noir.
This wine when opened, displayed the most appealing scents of black currant, Bing cherry, and spice. In the mouth, the mid-palete fruit is rich, but that lingering velvety finish is just so appealing you not only want, but need another sip. This wine drinks well now (give it 45 mins or so in a decanter), but should continue to drink well fir the next 5+ years.
Review Goodrich.