2015 Vintner's Select Pinot Noir
2015 VINTNER'S SELECT PINOT NOIR
Tasting Notes:
Enjoy this pinot noir blend of our estate Dunn Forest Vineyard (57%) and BeckenRidge Vineyard (43%) from the lovely 2015 vintage. Mouth filling tannins and flavors of vanilla, black berry and cherry balance the spicy barrel notes, drink until 2025.
Winemaking Notes:
The fruit was gently de-stemmed by a Euro Select into 1.5-ton fermenters leaving a very high whole berry content. A three or four day cold soak preceded inoculation done with a variety of yeasts designed to increase complexity and mouth-feel. Fermentations were punched down twice a day for ten days with temperatures peaking around 91°F. The wine was racked via gravity to settling tanks keeping each lot separate and was allowed to settle for two days before being racked to French oak barrels. The skins were shoveled into the press and pressed off to their own settling tank before racking. Keeping the free run and press wines separate gives me more flexibility in summer when we start blending. The wines were inoculated for malo-lactic and allowed to age for 10 months. At the end of August, the seven selected reserve barrels were racked to neutral French oak barrels for an additional year of aging. The wine was racked from barrel, blended in tank and bottled in September 2017.
Harvest Notes:
The 2015 growing season is now the warmest on record for the Willamette Valley. The prolonged heat posed some challenges for this vintage. Initially we thought we would have a surplus of grapes but as the 100+ degree days kept marching on our concerns were that the higher temps may have yielded fruit that lacked acidity. Prolonged higher temperatures can also produce higher alcohol content due to the increase in sugar. We chose harvest dates carefully and avoided those issues.
Our winery and our estate vineyard, Dunn Forest, are LIVE Certified Sustainable and Salmon Safe. The vineyard is hand cultivated allowing us to respond to individual vine needs.
A printout of this and the technical data is available under the 'Wine Information' tab above, 'Download Wine Notes'.
