Winemaker Notes
For this unique bottling, Nicolas-Jay has selected the best barrel from the original 1988 plantings of own-rooted Pommard clone from Block 1 of our Estate Bishop Creek vineyard in Yamhill-Carlton. Nestled in the hills above the town of Yamhill, this 13.5 acre planted vineyard is farmed organically by the Nicolas-Jay team. Aged for 17 months in a Francois Frères barrel, the nearly-30-year-old vines produce an ample yet balanced wine on the palate, with dusty bramble fruit and bright cherry alongside complex layers of minerality and generous tannin structure. 2019 is one of the more elegant, ethereal and complex vintages the Willamette Valley has seen in a long time. This wine will age beautifully in the years to come, and is the rarest expression of our most treasured Estate vineyard block!
Nicolas-Jay is the story of a three-decade friendship between famed Burgundian winemaker Jean-Nicolas Méo and visionary music entrepreneur Jay Boberg, and their shared love of Oregon Pinot noir. It is also the story of their desire to build something lasting together, while creating a distinctive expression of great Willamette Valley Pinot noir. At Nicolas-Jay, this is achieved by applying viticultural and winemaking experience gained from working with the Grands Crus of Burgundy and the finest grapes from Oregon.
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.