Vintage
2012 will go down as one of the finest in Oregon history in terms of quality of the raw materials. Mother Nature really smiled on us with not only a rain-free harvest season but perhaps more importantly with tiny berries and clusters. The small fruit size allowed us to effortlessly and gently extract the concentrated fruit and ripe tannins of the perfectly ripe grapes.
According to owner/winemaker Adam Campbell “The wines from 2012 remind me and my folks of classic vintages like 1998 and 1994. Small clusters and berries give us an amazing skin-to-juice ratio, allowing us to be incredibly gentle through fermentation and still come up with powerful concentration and ripeness of fruit.”
Early reviews of the 2012 vintage use descriptors like “Stunning”, “Amazing” & “Epic” making Oregon winemakers giddy that 2012 could go down as the best vintage in our 50 year winemaking history.
Vineyard
We only produce our Riesling Late Harvest in years when we can allow the fruit to ripen fully on the vine. In Oregon, this depends both on the timing of both harvest and the fall rains.
Winemaking
Our Late Harvest Riesling is made from very ripe fruit with 5-20% botrytis (noble rot) which adds an earthy honey character to the wine. The grapes are whole-cluster pressed and fermented at very cool temperatures in small stainless steel tanks to retain the freshness of the Riesling grapes. Some of the original sweetness is always retained in the final wine, without sacrificing structure and acidity.
Viticultural & Enological Data
- Vine Age 38 years
- Yield 4.15 tons/acre
- Harvest Sugars 19.7
- pH 2.87
- Vatting Whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks.
- Cases Produced 197
