Intended as a “wine club only” selection, we only made 33 cases of this wine. It really shows why we consider Mount Richmond East to be our most promising vineyard: the intensity is impressive for a wine made from young vines.
VINTAGE 2013 had both the merits and the challenges of our cool climate. Wet weather during bloom led to low yields, requiring minimal thinning. A warm, dry summer followed, with a long season ideal for developing delicate flavors and concentration.
Adam’s mantra of great winemaking “starting in the vineyard” rang true – each day he checked multiple weather reports and walked the vineyards, tasting and testing juice for flavor development and brix. The goal: carefully timed picking to avoid dilution, splitting and rot, while achieving optimum physiological ripe-ness. Although Tropical Storm Pabuk broke 100-year rainfall records in late September, it had a minimal effect on fruit quality with less than 1/3 of our fruit coming in that week.
We don’t grow grapes here because it’s easy, but because of the beautiful, complex flavors we get from our Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and other cool-climate varietals. 2013 will likely be a year that gets mixed reviews, with comparisons to 2010 and 2011. Those in the know rely on these vintages for beautiful elegance, great freshness and amazing longevity.
Mount Richmond Vineyard sits on Willakenzie soils in the heart of the Yamhill Carlton AVA. The site was purchased in 1996 as a partnership between winemaker Adam Campbell, his wife Carrie, and Elk Cove founders Pat and Joe Campbell. The motivation for planting Mount Richmond was to emulate the wine quality from sites such as our esteemed Roosevelt vineyard. The vineyard now holds the honor as the largest vineyard holding of Elk Cove, totaling 105 planted acres. Mount Richmond sits at 300-500 feet elevation, lower than the vineyards planted at the winery, which allows for earlier ripening. Planted in a high-density format (2100 vines/acre), similar to Roosevelt, Mount Richmond sits in rolling hills just outside the town of Yamhill just East of the Coast Range Mountains. In addition to the old vine pommard selection, planted from select cuttings off of Roosevelt Vineyard, the blend now also includes equal parts of Dijon clones 115 and 777.
Vineyard Manager Travis Watson says of Mount Richmond East: “Our ideal site is an inverted bowl on one of these hilltops for various reasons: air drainage, water drainage, everything about it is that much better, even if it rolls a little bit to the north or two the west everything is better. But it’s all site specific, everything is site-specific. This is sedimentary marine, very little top soil. It’s fantastic for Pinot Noir.”
Fruit from Mount Richmond is fermented in small, temperature controlled steel tanks, hand punched down twice daily, and barreled in 50% new french oak barrels. After 10 months of aging in barrels, only the barrels that are most representative of the Mount Richmond profile are carefully blended to create a big, luscious Oregon Pinot Noir.
Review Mount Richmond East.