Elk Cove Vineyards 2012 Pinot Blanc

Other Vintages

2012 Pinot Blanc Willamette Valley

A fresh dry Pinot Blanc – honey & floral aromas followed by lemon zest and pear on the palate with a touch of tangerine. Crisp and bright with lots of richness & body in the mid-palate that lingers on the finish with clean minerality.

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“Melon and apple fruit flavors are lightly buttery, fresh and spicy…”
– Wine Enthusiast (June, 2014)

“One of the most fruity & floral pinot blancs we’ve made! Delicious.”
– Elk Cove founder Pat Campbell

“…try any one and know that they’ve got the essence of Oregon captured in all of their wines…”
– Twin Cities Statement Magazine (September 1, 2009)

Vintage

Vintage 2012 will go down as one of the finest in Oregon history in terms of quality of the raw materials. Mother Nature really smiled on us with not only a rain-free harvest season but perhaps more importantly with tiny berries and clusters. The small fruit size allowed us to effortlessly and gently extract the concentrated fruit and ripe tannins of the perfectly ripe grapes. Those beautifully small clusters and berries were lighter than normal, so yields were down and these wines will likely sell out at a brisker than usual pace.

According to owner/winemaker Adam Campbell “The wines from 2012 remind me and my folks of classic vintages like 1998 and 1994. Small clusters and berries give us an amazing skin-to-juice ratio, allowing us to be incredibly gentle through fermentation and still come up with powerful concentration and ripeness of fruit. It’s also great that 2012 wasn’t a super hot vintage, so we were able to produce very ripe but varietally correct wines with freshness of fruit and lower alcohols, most in the 13% range”.

Early reviews of the 2012 vintage use descriptors like “Stunning”, “Amazing” & “Epic” making Oregon winemakers giddy that 2012 could go down as the best vintage in our 50 year winemaking history.

Vineyard

The fruit for this Pinot Blanc is hand-harvested from select hillside vineyards in the northern Willamette Valley, including our Five Mountain, Mount Richmond and Estate vineyards.

Winemaking

The Willamette Valley has an ideal climate for Pinot Blanc, a delicate grape variety – enough sunlight and warmth for ripening, with cooler night temperatures that help retain varietal character. To preserve the freshness, our Pinot Blanc is whole-cluster pressed then fermented at very cool temperatures in small stainless steel tanks, all of which accentuates aromatics and enhances the richness and viscosity of the wine.

Viticultural & Enological Data

Vine Age 10-20 years
Yield 4.26 tons/acre
Harvest Sugars 22.5 Brix
pH 3.17
Vatting Whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks.
Cases Produced 1,353

2012 Pinot Blanc Willamette Valley

Accolades

2012 Pinot Blanc: 90 Points in Wine Enthusiast

Elk Cove staff comments on this wine...

Twin Cities Statement Magazine

Vintage

Vineyard

Winemaking

Viticultural & Enological Data

Reviews

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