2016 Nemarniki Vineyard Pinot Noir – $37/btl
The 2016 vintage was outstanding – we brought in nearly perfect handpicked fruit in early October. This wine exhibits notes of bright red cherry, raspberry and black tea with an earthy edge on the nose. The palate is velvety with a nice ribbon of acidity and may well be our most polished Pinot Noir to date. The one word to describe this wine would be: “Graceful”.
VINEYARD
Our focus is on single vineyard Pinot Noir from cool sites which we believe have the potential to make the utmost stellar wines in all of Oregon. Our Pinot Noir fruit comes from Diane Nemarniki’s pristine estate vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. This sustainably dry farmed vineyard is meticulous and Diane hand tends to her vines as if they were her own children. At 750 ft elevation this site is on Loess soil (wind-blown silty loam) called Laurelwood which produces wines with rich red fruits and earthiness.
WINE MAKING
The grapes were handpicked the first week of October and carefully sorted both in the vineyard and on the sorting table. A four day cold soak allows for up front extraction and then a long slow fermentation. Once primary fermentation was completed the wine went into 33% new French Oak barrels for an eleven month elevage. It was bottled in August 2017 and released in March 2018.
WINE FACTS
Varietal: Pinot Noir – 100%
Appellation: Chehalem Mountainss AVA-Willamette Valley, Oregon
Vineyard: Nemarniki Vineyard
Clone: 777
Aging: 11 Months in 33 % new French Oak
Alcohol: 13.9%
pH: 3.62 TA: 5.3 g/l
Production: 75 Cases