2014 Pinot Noir Rosé
Pink apricot in color. Strawberry, rose and freshly cut watermelon aromas greet you in the glass. A creamy texture on the palate with flavors of strawberry rhubarb pie, complemented by a thrill of sour cherries. Finishes with a grip of orange zest and delicate accents of clove and fig.
Vintage
Vintage 2014 in Oregon may be remembered as the vintage of a lifetime; one of those rare vintages, reminiscent of 1988 and 2002, when you have high quality and high quantity simultaneously. The tone for the season was set at bud break, which averaged two weeks early and held on through harvest. Growing conditions were mostly dry and warmer than normal resulting in a large number of small clusters that ripened evenly over the course of the summer, giving us wines that show as fruit focused, quite concentrated and with amazing freshness.
This year’s warmer than average nights and moderate days created the ideal conditions that led to a faster rate of ripening due to less stress on the vines. This allowed the fruit to stay in harmony. In addition, notes Winemaker, Adam Campbell, “the amazing summer weather led to the lowest disease pressure I have ever seen, creating a harvest that was the stuff dreams are made of – little rain, gorgeous fruit, and an easy tempo making for a relaxed and delightful crush”. These prolonged warm days and moderately cool nights with low heat stress led to ideal ripening.
Fruit quality, harmony and balance were key factors in the 2014 growing season. As fruit came in with incredible evenness and extraordinary concentration, 2014 will likely be a show stopping vintage. We remain true to our goals as wine growers – looking to capture the beautiful, complex flavors that are the signature of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and other cool-climate varietals.
Vineyard
The fruit for this all Pinot Noir Rosé is hand-harvested from select 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 the full flavor development and aromatics needed for a fresh white wine, within a framework of lower alcohol.
Winemaking
Pinot Noir fruit for our Rosé is hand-harvested and is a combination of both gently whole-bunch pressed fruit, and a traditional method of making a Rosé called saignée. Saignée is free run juice that is bled off early prior to fermentation of Pinot Noir, which we thoughtfully collect in order to make a delicately balanced Rosé. The pressed fruit and saignée is all fermented cool in stainless steel tanks, then carefully selected lots of fermented red Pinot Noir juice is blended back in for color and texture. Our Pinot Noir Rosé is finished completely dry.
Viticultural & Enological Data
- Vine Age 3-40 years
- Harvest Sugars 22.5
- pH 3.15
- Vatting Gently whole-cluster pressed, cold fermented in stainless steel tanks. Select pinot noir juice added for texture & color.
- Cases Produced 4000
