Winemaker Notes
Elk Cove Mount Richmond Pinot Noir is deep and brooding with aromas of dark chocolate and ripe Italian plum, its dusty tannins lend structure to lush black currant and blackberry compote flavors. Finishes earthy with dried fig, black tea and pinesap.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-purple, the 2019 Pinot Noir Mount Richmond has alluring scents of wild berries, forest floor, cinnamon and lavender. The medium-bodied palate is soft with generous fruit and flourishes of spice and floral perfume, and it has a long, juicy finish.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dried cranberries, dark cherries, cloves and rosemary. Medium-bodied and tense with fine tannins. Juicy red-berry core on the palate, seasoned with ground spices and savory herbs.
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Wine Enthusiast
2019 is an excellent vintage for Elk Cove, despite whatever fire-related weather and smoke issues the Willamette Valley was suffering. Perhaps the northwest corner location was spared the smoke; in any event the estate grown Pinots are fruit-driven, beautifully ripened, clean and textured and immediately delicious. The Mount Richmond adds a touch of leather to its blackberry fruit, along with refreshing minerality and a neat streak of espresso. Trailing out the finish is a note of clean straw. Drink now and through the middle of the decade.
One of the founding wineries of the Willamette Valley, family-owned and operated Elk Cove Vineyards was the first vineyard in what is now the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Second-generation Owner/Winemaker and fifth-generation Oregon farmer Adam Campbell sources fruit from Elk Cove's six 100% estate-grown, sustainably farmed vineyard sites located across the northern Willamette Valley, specializing in Pinot Noir and cool-climate white wines. Elk Cove is named for the local herd of Roosevelt elk and the protective bowl shape of the property. Its tasting room is tucked into the foothills of the Coast Range, with spectacular views of the surrounding vineyards and mountains.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.