The first ever Willamette: The Pinot Noir Barrel Auction was a huge success, bringing in $476,000 to support the Willamette Valley Wineries Association. The funds will be used to promote our Willamette Valley wineries, including Elk Cove! Read more about the auction here.

This trade only event started on Friday with sub-AVA specific events. Elk Cove co-hosted an event with our neighbors at Big Table Farm, a great winery to add to your itinerary when you visit Elk Cove (they’re by reservation only so call ahead).

We are thrilled that our long-time friends at Zupan’s “paddled up” and won our 10-case lot of 2014 Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir! Here’s a description of this special wine made with Shea fruit:

A ten case lot of Elk Cove single vineyard Pinot noir made from Shea Vineyard fruit.
We have a longstanding relationship with Dick Shea and have been making wine from
this five-acre block of Dijon 777 on the east side of the Shea property for ten years.
We produce a small amount of Shea Pinot noir each year for our wine club with
limited availability in our tasting room, so this is a unique opportunity.

Shea Vineyard is renowned for big, concentrated dark fruit character.
Elk Cove’s take on Shea tends to be less aggressive with ripe but refined tannins
for a more up-front red-fruit profile.

Elk Cove’s delicate Pinot noir fruit undergoes gentle handling through our gravity
flow system. This allows us to achieve the elegance, texture, and luscious quality that
are the hallmarks of exquisite Pinot noir. This Shea lot was fermented in two small,
temperature controlled steel tanks, one entirely destemmed and the other 90% whole-cluster.
Hand punched down twice daily then aged in barrel for 10 months in 35% new French Oak.
Brilliant red with refined jasmine tea and triple berry aromatics. Delicately concentrated and
juicy on the palate with loads of red cherry fruit leading to a lengthy finish of refined tannins.

Find out more about the auction at the WVWA page or read this article on the event by Eric Degerman.