Winemaker Notes
The fruit is grown on the top of Bald Peak in the Chehalem Mountains at 1250 feet elevation, hence we call this wine "Bergspitze" which means mountain top in German. 100% Alsatian Coury clones brought back in a suitcase by Charles Coury and planted in Oregon in 1965. The 2018 vintage delivers the typical characteristics of this vineyard, lighter colored but deep in aromatics of bright fruit notes of cherry and white raspberry with a slight dusting of chalkiness. The finish is long and keeps your palate reminded of what you just sipped until the next taste. This wine is light enough to pair with seafood and can hold up to pork and beef.
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.”
The Chehalem Mountains is a northwest-southeast span of several distinct mountains, ridges and peaks in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. Of all of Willamette Valley's smaller AVAs, it is closest to the city of Portland. Its highest summit, Bald Peak at an elevation of 1,633 feet, serves to generate cooler air for the rest of the AVA and its hillside vineyards. The region covers 70,000 acres but only 1,600 acres are planted to vines; soils of the Chehalem Mountains are a mix of basalt, ocean sediment and loess.