2016 Goodrich
Heady and rustic with wafts of Italian plum, cherry wood and blackberry liquor, this wine boasts a rich dark fruit complemented by notes of fig and ocean rock that ease into a finish of fresh cracked pepper.
Heady and rustic with wafts of Italian plum, cherry wood and blackberry liquor, this wine boasts a rich dark fruit complemented by notes of fig and ocean rock that ease into a finish of fresh cracked pepper.
VINTAGE 2016 was a year of unusual weather that led to beautiful fruit at lower than average yields. In spring, an early heat spike meant a very condensed time frame for bloom. This gave us smaller than average berries and clusters and set us on the path for our third early harvest in a row. Thankfully, summer weather was cooler than average, which slowed down ripening and allowed flavor development to catch up to sugar accumulation. Due to our small initial crop estimates, we held off thinning until the last minute to delay ripening and add “hang-time”, an important factor in the development of complex flavors.
We were a little stunned when our first fruit hit the crush-pad in the last days of August, setting a record for our earliest harvest in 40 years. September and October brought relief from the heat with mild evenings and cool nights that allowed for slow, even ripening. We picked fruit that was absolutely pristine and perfectly ripe, at a gradual pace that allowed us to give our full attention to each block and work shorter hours than in a typical harvest season.
We are optimistic that 2016 will be an outstanding vintage, reminiscent of 2012 and 2014, with wines that show great balance and concentration.
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 high-density 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 23% new 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.