2022 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

NEW RELEASE

With cherry cordial, dried strawberries and dark chocolate on the nose, this fruit-forward wine’s cherry, cranberry and black currant flavors lead into a supple finish of spiced tea, orange peel and leather.

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“The 2022 vintage was a classic in Oregon, though bookended by some bizarre weather. Elk Cove has estate vineyards in both the Chehalem Mountain and Yamhill-Carlton AVAs. This Pinot Noir is comprised of wines from six different sites. Brilliant red fruit aromatics, with sweet candied raspberries coming to the fore, buoyed by notes of fresh mint. The palate is fleshy and offers plenty of tannin and structure, fresh red and black bramble fruits interplaying with savoury herbal notes, and finishes with a gravelly mineral tone.”
– Decanter (February 2024)

“Plump and generous, with raspberry and cranberry flavors that are accented with forest floor, clove and other dusky spices, finishing with refined tannins. Drink now through 2032.”
– Wine Spectator (February 2024)

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

Our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is made with 100% estate grown fruit from all six of our vineyard sites: The Winery Estate, Mount Richmond, Five Mountain, Clay Court, Goodrich and Windhill. These sites are comprised of both Pommard and Dijon plant material, with multiple clones represented.

Because we draw from vineyards representing all three of the major Willamette Valley soil types, we are able to pick and choose for different flavor components to make the best possible blend each year for our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Some people call this making wine “spice rack” style, we usually just call it delicious. Our goal is the perfect version of what we believe a Willamette Valley Pinot should be: a wine with freshness of fruit, well-integrated alcohol, and great concentration of flavor.

Winemaking

To make our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, fruit from each vineyard block is fermented separately in small, temperature controlled steel tanks, hand punched down twice daily, and barreled in french oak barrels. After 10 months of aging in French oak, the wine we choose for our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is carefully blended to produce the most approachable, well-balanced Pinot Noir we make.

Viticultural & Enological Data

Harvest Sugars 23.5 brix
pH 3.64
Vatting Fermentation in small open top fermentors. 10 months in French oak.
Cases Produced 20,000

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