2019 La Bohème
Black cherry, forest floor and hints of rose petal and orange peel introduce a wine of great clarity. Juicy blackberry and fresh red cherry lead into a long silky finish of savory bay leaf and sea spray.
Black cherry, forest floor and hints of rose petal and orange peel introduce a wine of great clarity. Juicy blackberry and fresh red cherry lead into a long silky finish of savory bay leaf and sea spray.
Dark garnet. Fresh red and blue fruit and floral qualities on the fragrant nose, along with a spicy topnote. Juicy and focused on the palate, offering sappy cherry, boysenberry and spicecake flavors that deepen through the back half. The blue fruit note drives a very long, smooth finish framed by supple, even tannins.
– Vinous (February, 2022)
VINTAGE 2019 required experience and courage. After 45 years, we often say there isn’t a harvest we haven’t seen, but 2019 was an odd one. After a warm May and a healthy, early fruit-set, the summer ended cool with no threat of the sunburn or hazy, smoky skies seen in recent years. We expected to pick in early September, but weeks of unseasonably cool weather took us by surprise. Rather than rushing to pick too early, we waited patiently for concentrations and sugar levels to rise, confident that our vineyard practices would protect the fruit.
According to Winemaker/Owner Adam Campbell “You pick your moments. If you’re 100% estate grown and you have impeccable timing – you can grow fantastic fruit in any year. It took months of preparation in the vineyard, and some very long days during crush, but we had a great crew in 2019 and managed to get sugar levels right where we want them.”
Our goal is a minimum 100 days from bloom to harvest; 2019 saw hang times as long as 125 days in some blocks. Expect wines with a big ripe core of concentrated fruit and a bright, fresh profile.
We planted La Bohème Vineyard in 1985 by selecting the very best vines from our original Estate Pommard plantings. Pat and Joe Campbell named the vineyard after the family who sold them the property – and their favorite Puccini opera. This picturesque vineyard overlooks the winery and the coast range mountains and rises to 800 feet, making it one of the highest elevation vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley. La Bohème was planted using cuttings from vines selected for small cluster size and intense flavors, hallmarks of the world’s finest Pinot Noirs. We prune and cluster-thin La Bohème heavily to limit yields and to maximize ripening and flavor concentration.
All of Elk Cove’s delicate Pinot Noir fruit undergoes the same gentle handling through our gravity flow system. This allows us to achieve the elegance, texture and luscious quality that are the hallmarks of exquisite Pinot Noir.
Fruit from the La Bohème vineyard is fermented in small, temperature controlled steel tanks, hand punched down twice daily then aged for ten months in French oak. Our winemaking team then selects the very best barrels to represent the silky, lush flavor profile that exemplifies La Bohème pinot noir.
So bring stuck at home these past several months we finally broke into our Elk Cove stash and opened a half dozen bottles at the same time of different Pinot Noir’s and doing a bottle against another bottle. After a week La Boheme was the clear winner.
Now I need some more :-)
Wowww descorche un 2010 y no sabes lo increible que demuesyta y refleja este arte esas notas de romero fresco, cereza,arandanos increicle en boca
¡Gracias por revisar nuestro 2010 Raul!
Just had this and it is truly a special wine. Thank you for the hard work and love in every glass.
Thanks for your review Ken – we’re so glad you enjoyed our La Bohème Pinot Noir!