Dusty rose in color, the nose features lime peel and pink grapefruit beside hints of dried mango and white flowers. The palate is both juicy and robust with flavors of strawberry, peach hard candy and lime meeting a pithy finish of pink grapefruit, sarsaparilla and rose petal.
VINTAGE 2023 required experience and patience that was rewarded with essential hang-time and ripening. The growing season started cool, then May sunshine brought an average bloom in mid-June followed by a glorious summer. We enjoyed many classic 80-degree Willamette Valley days, with nighttime highs staying down in the 50s even in August, typically the warmest month here in Oregon. The only exception to these consistent diurnal swings was a single big heat spike in mid-August. We anticipated picking in early September. However, some fortuitous rain events allowed us to push back harvest and we were thankful for the additional hang time.
Harvest came early, but not too early. We brought in beautiful fruit and we were pleased to still be picking Pinot noir into early October. When you have fast accumulation of fruit sugars, cool weather can be a welcome respite with even small amounts of rain helping the grapevines regulate and slow ripening. One of the reasons why Oregon Pinot Noir is so prized is for its freshness of fruit, and you can only get that vibrancy when it’s under 50 degrees during picking.
2023 brought amazing fruit quality, but our production was down, especially on cool climate white wines like Pinot Gris. Being an estate grown winery, we must follow Mother Nature’s lead as we cannot buy fruit to increase production. Smaller yields do mean a smaller crop and less wine, but we embrace vintage variation. Another great benefit of being estate grown is that it’s our decision exactly when to pick. Rather than rushing to bring fruit into the cellar, in 2023 were able to play the odds and wait out the rain on blocks that needed additional hang time to get the flavor development we needed.
The fruit for this all Pinot Noir Rosé is hand-harvested from our estate vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley. For the Rosé, we choose both young and old vines from higher elevation vineyards on their own rootstock. These give us full aromatic and flavor development as well as great freshness of fruit within a framework of lower alcohol.
Pinot Noir fruit for our Rosé is hand-harvested very ripe and gently whole bunch pressed with limited skin crushing, which makes virtually a “white Pinot Noir”. The wine is fermented cool in stainless steel tanks. Then carefully selected lots of fermented red Pinot Noir juice is blended back for color and texture. Our Pinot Noir Rosé is finished completely dry.
An absolute beautiful wine, we adore.
This has been my favorite Rose’ for years! I visited Elk Cove last summer which after being there and seeing the vineyards makes the wine even more amazing! Thank you for this great wine!
Got this bottle as a house warming gift and we are hooked! So smooth, so flavorful, perfect with dinner. Love!
This wine is the best! Received it as a birthday gift and was surprised by it!
This wine is so delicious! Received it as a birthday gift and was surprised by it!
Amazing wine! I will buy this again!
Have enjoyed this wine in past, and going back to New Hampshire for the summer means I need to order anew to avoid disappointment of missing having it available for summer enjoyment. It is a superb sipping wine on warm summer nights!
Really love your wines. I don’t drink very much red wine anymore, but I think your Pinot noir is terrific and always have it for guests. Also love the Pinot Blanc, the Pinot Gris, and the Rose’. I drink wine mostly for fun, at my advanced age of 82, and I find all the previously mentioned wines To be totally sound and beautifully made. Thank you.
I sure wish I would have purchased more of this very special Rosé. Looking forward to next year!
The rosé is special in the fact that it is crisp and dry and perfect for a warm day. Whenever I serve, my friends all ask about the wine and comment how much they enjoy! Cheers!
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Review Pinot Noir Rosé.