Rich in the extreme, this wine exudes red cherries, toffee and sarsaparilla with a waft of ocean breeze salinity. The palate has a wet rock minerality that complements flavors of cherry, black plums and cranberry that meld into a firm finish of cinnamon, tobacco and cacao.
“Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir Roosevelt Reserve has a nose of dried cranberries and dried red cherries with floral perfume, dried leaves, licorice and warm earth. Light to medium-bodied, it has good concentration of red and black cherries and berries in the mouth with earth and spice layers, a firm frame of grainy tannins and juicy acidity, finishing long and layered.”
– Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (Aug 31, 2018)
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 hopeful that 2016 will be just as great as the spectacular 2012 and 2014 vintages, and early signs indicate just that, with the wines showing moderate alcohols, balanced acids and great concentration.
Our winemaking team considers barrels from all of our estate plantings to make the Reserve our very best Pinot Noir.
WINEMAKING: We only make a Reserve in exceptional years, selecting less than 1% of our Pinot Noir to make the best wine we can imagine, balancing diverse components from our best vineyard blocks.
“In 2016 our best barrels were spread between five vineyard sites, including two barrels from Goodrich which added about 9% whole-cluster. We think of this as a true reserve meaning we pick the finest 9 barrels in the cellar from our top single vineyard sites. This wine saw 50% new oak of only extra-tight grain light toasts from top Burgundian cooperages.”
– Owner/Winemaker Adam Campbell
Our Reserve is both big and structured, designed to improve with cellaring for 20+ years.
Review Reserve Library Release.