2016 Brut Rosé Brut Rosé

SOLD OUT – Our new trio of 2017 Sparkling Wines releases in May of 2021!

Brilliant coral with vibrant, fine bubbles, this sparkling wine has a light aroma of strawberry shortcake and honeydew melon. The palate is expressive and bright with flavors of raspberry and lemon bar leading into grippy lime rind and rhubarb on the finish.

Download Fact Sheet

“This delightfully complex bubbly from Elk Cove offers up earthy notes from lees contact, but light-hearted fruit and florals as well—strawberries swirling with wisteria. A spin of citrus on the palate leads into raspberry, then heads toward tart cranberry and rhubarb. A savory edge and underlying minerality slip in on the finish, buoyed by great, persistent bubbles.”

– Robb Report (February 8, 2021)

Vintage

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 optimistic that 2016 will be an outstanding vintage, reminiscent of 2012 and 2014, with wines that show great balance and concentration.

Vineyard

Pat and Joe Campbell named La Bohème vineyard after the family who sold them the property – and their favorite Puccini opera. This picturesque vineyard overlooks the winery and the coast range mountains and rises to 800 feet, making it one of the highest elevation vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley. Fruit for this Brut Rosé was sourced from the lower blocks of La Bohème and harvested early at a lower ripeness. The lower initial sugar level helps us keep the final alcohol level at our desired 12-13%.

Winemaking

Our 100% Pinot Noir sparkling wine is a “méthode traditionnelle” Brut Rosé and was cool-fermented in stainless steel tanks to retain freshness of character using a traditional Champagne yeast.

This pink bubbly was initially bottled on site at Elk Cove. After 3 years in tirage (on the lees in bottle) the wine was riddled in an automated “gyropallette” then disgorged. We used a small amount of our ultra-sweet Ultima wine for the final dosage to adjust sweetness to a classic brut level.

Viticultural & Enological Data

Vine Age 30 years
Harvest Sugars 19 brix
Vatting Cool-fermented in stainless steel tanks.
Cases Produced 500

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