2022 Pinot Blanc

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The 2022 Elk Cove Pinot Blanc comes from old vines that are up to nearly 30 years of age. This was stored in stainless steel before bottling. Once on the nose this takes on delicious kiwi and starfruit tones that mingle well with stony accents. The palate is soft and inviting with a smooth texture and generous melon fruit flavors. This is really good in its mineral-driven youth. Drink 2023-2027

– Owen Bargreen (December 2023)

The least planted of the Pinots in the Willamette Valley, Pinot Blanc offers fresh floral goodness, and this bottling from Elk Cove delivers. Sweet white floral aromas of gardenia and English Hawthorne swirl around notes of lychee and early-season apricot. The palate is light, bright and fruited with sweet peach flesh, mandarin and candied lemon peel. The wine finishes with an incredible mineral streak of wet slate and ample acidic lift.

– Decanter (August, 2023)

The grapes used to make this dazzler were whole cluster-pressed and fermented in stainless steel. Peach and melon aromas are flanked by notes of honeysuckle and wet slate. Jittery acidity shines a spotlight on rich lemon butter, thyme and green tea flavors. This is one of the best Pinot Blancs I’ve had in a long time.

– Wine Enthusiast (October, 2023)

Vintage

In VINTAGE 2022 Mother Nature kept us on our toes with unusual weather at each end of the growing season. A wet, cold spring led into a long, temperate summer followed by a very sunny fall that brought us much-needed ripening.

What a surprise to have snowfall on April 11th, our region’s latest significant snow since 1942! Most of our vines had not yet leafed out and their tight woolly buds were well-protected. However, frost damage did mean a smaller crop at our Clay Court Vineyard. Other vineyard sites set a healthy crop, which we thinned heavily to increase intensity and encourage ripening. August and September were unseasonably warm, but the nights remained cool, helping us retain varietal character. Worries of late-season botrytis (rot) meant extra passes of hand-work in the vineyard pulling leaves to improve sunlight penetration and airflow. Thankfully, October welcomed a long string of sunny days and just exactly the hang-time and ripening we needed to bring grape sugar (brix) to ideal levels.

Harvest began in late September, with most fruit harvested during two very intense mid-October weeks. Many of our blocks achieved peak ripeness at the same time, so we are very thankful for our incredible crew for all of the early morning picking sessions in the vineyard and long days in the cellar. Expect complex, fruit-forward wines from this vintage.

Vineyard

The fruit for this Pinot Blanc is all hand-harvested from our own estate-grown hillside vines at our Five Mountain and Mount Richmond 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 7-29 Years
Harvest Sugars 22 brix
Vatting Whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks.

Adam’s Crab Cakes

It’s our post-harvest tradition to rent a boat and go crabbing at Kelly’s Marina. While we don’t always make it to the coast to go crabbing ourselves, sitting around the table shelling cooked crab from the fishmonger is also a great way to catch up while anticipating the great meal ahead, usually while savoring a glass of what we in the Campbell family call “cooking wine” (wine poured for the cooks). Dungeness crab season in Oregon runs from December to August.

These crab cakes pair beautifully with our Pinot Blanc. Cheers and bon appétit!

Adam holding Dungeness crab

RECIPE

For the cakes:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 large egg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons minced fresh dill
3 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon
4 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
4 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
ground black pepper to taste
1 pound cooked blue or Dungeness crabmeat
2 cups panko bread crumbs (divided)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the Skillet:
2 tablespoons (or more) butter
2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil or grapeseed oil

For the salad:
salad greens of your choice
3tbs olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dijon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

serve with crusty bread & hot sauce

In a large bowl, whisk ingredients the first 10 ingredients together. Mix in crabmeat, and break it up into a rough, chunky texture while feeling with your hands for any remaining pieces of shell. In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup panko with the cayenne then fold into crab mixture. Let stand while panko soaks up the liquid from the crab mixture. Place the remaining panko in a flat bottomed bowl or tray. Form crab into patties about 2.5 inches in diameter (about 12) then press both sides of patties into the panko. Chill the formed patties for 1 to 4 hours in the fridge.

To fry, add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook crab cakes on both sides for about 4-5 minutes until they are browned, adding oil as needed to the skillet.

Make a vinaigrette with any remaining herbs, tossing lightly into your greens and serving alongside your favorite crusty bread. Season if desired with lemon wedges and Louisiana-style hot sauce – Crystal is our favorite but Tabasco or Texas Pete work equally well. Cheers!

Pinot Blanc

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