Winemaker Notes
In the winery the philosophy of attention to the smallest details is further extended all the way from the fermenting must to the final bottling process. All of our wines at all of their points of evolution are handled and manipulated as little as possible while being smelled and tasted on a regular basis. Our selection of barrels has been limited to one cooper noted for producing some of the best made Pinot Noir barrels in the world. As we produce as many as 15-16 different bottlings of Pinot Noir under our own label each vintage the decisions we make about the quality of every single barrel is quite rigorous ensuring that each bottling represents the best possible wine from each vineyard with which we work.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.
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.”