Winemaker Notes
The 2016 vintage had a warm spring with record-breaking heat units in April and May. This transitioned us into the earliest harvest date on record. Lower elevation Dundee Hills started to pick the end of the second week of August, and our last fruit was in the door September 16th. The summer wasn’t overly warm, though just warm enough to keep the vines moving forward, developing into a beautiful growing season and harvest. I think you will see the wines balanced and rich in a traditional Purple Hands Style.
Tasting notes: Creamy Texture, Blackberry, Mullberry, Boysenberry, Blueberry, Cinnamon, Candied Blackberry, Dusty Walnut, Lavender, Mint
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromatic and balanced, Cody Wright's take on fruit from this classic vineyard hits all the right (no pun intended) notes. There are seams of blueberry pie, cola and a hint of minerality, excellent texture and length, and enough stiffness to the tannins to suggest holding off a bit on drinking it. A good window would be 2020 through the decade.
Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard has a classic nose of bright cherry and cranberry with notions of cola, red licorice, dried leaves and spice. The palate is light to medium-bodied with a good core of earthy red fruit and lots of spicy layers, framed by grainy tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long and savory.
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Wine Spectator
Precise and refined, with cherry and blueberry flavors accented by clove and black tea notes, building depth toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2024.
Purple Hands Vineyards celebrates site-specific pinot noir and chardonnay that unearth the Willamette Valley’s long evolutionary history. Using traditional winemaking techniques, they strive to produce wines that convey an honest expression of each of their vineyards—its grapevines and cultivation, soil and stone, sunshine and rain. All of their wines undergo native fermentation and remain unfined and unfiltered at bottling to preserve their natural, wild character. Achieving elegance in this pursuit is the passion and art of their craft.
Over the past 40 years, Cody’s family has created a legacy of quality in the Oregon wine industry. Their winemaking styles and techniques helped Oregon’s Willamette Valley become the premium Pinot noir producing region in the world. At Purple Hands, Cody continues to build on the standard of excellence initiated by the previous generation.
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.