Belle Pente Yamhill-Carleton PInot Noir 2014
Belle Pente Yamhill-Carleton PInot Noir 2014$31.99Add to cart
Belle Pente Yamhill-Carleton PInot Noir 2014
Belle Pente Yamhill-Carleton PInot Noir 2014The bountiful harvest of 2014, bolstered by a warm growing season, created many terrific winemaking opportunities, including this drop-dead delicious Pinot noir that can grace your Wednesday night table for less than 30 bucks. Made from 100% “de-classified” estate fruit (ie barrels that were “left over” after we created our Belle Pente Vineyard and Estate Reserve blends), this fresh, friendly, fruit-forward wine is a delight to drink today, but could certainly be cellared for several years as well.
All 8 of our Pinot noir blocks contributed to this blend, with roughly half of the fruit coming from sections planted in 1999 to the Dijon 114 and 115 selections. Another quarter is comprised of fruit from our prized Pommard block (planted in 1998), and the balance includes small percentages of Wadensvil, Dijon 113, and 777. This clonal diversity provides a complexity that is rare in such an inexpensive bottling.
This cuvee delivers a great expression of both the vintage and the appellation. Wines from the warm 2014 growing season tend to be soft and supple, but balanced with adequate levels of acid and tannin. So they are lush and rich on the plate, but also crisp and clean. Flavors and aroma of dark berries are complimented with violet and anise notes. Fewer than 15% of the barrels used were new, and over half were at least 4 years old, so the time and place can shine, unencumbered by barrel influence.
Enjoy this wine today with hearty week-night fare!
892 cases produced
Big Salt Oregon White Wine 2019
Big Salt Oregon White Wine 2019Big Salt is a white wine that embodies a day at the beach. It’s bright, fresh, dry and a bit salty (although no salt is added of course!) – once it’s done you’re left wanting more. We achieve this experience by letting mother nature create complexity – that is to say we allow all of the grapes to ferment together, with native yeast..rather than making a blend in the laboratory. Finding the right vineyards throughout Oregon that share the same cool climate is what it’s all about.
The Wine
Elkton AVA, planted on Windygap soils (deep, well-drained residuum and colluvium from sandstone and siltstone)
90 native co-fermented Gewurztraminer (1980) & Riesling (1983) in stainless steel
8 Early Muscat (1978), native fermented in neutral barrel
2 Melon, Savignin Rose (1980), and Pinot Noir (all de-stemmed and added to the press)
7-8 gr/L RS
No additives except SO2, Crossflow filtered and bottled after 6 months on lees
The Winery
Founded by husband-and-wife duo John House and Ksenija Kostic in 2011, Ovum is a celebration of the diverse expressions of Oregon Riesling. After years of learning the intricacies of the Willamette Valley while working together at Chehalem, John and Ksenija set off to further investigate the myriad terroirs of Oregon through the lens of Riesling, and now source fruit from through the state. They have found sites with blustery Pacific winds, extreme diurnal shifts, and rocky, well-draining soils.
To emphasize the idiosyncrasies of these vineyards, all of Ovums wines see the same practices in the cellar: natural fermentations, no additions or subtractions except for SO2, extended lees contact of 8-9 months all in neutral barrels of acacia and oak, as well as Nomblot concrete eggs. The resulting wines are textured and concentrated, driven by minerality, and framed by unwavering acidity. Ovums work is among the most compelling white winemaking we have encountered in our search throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Nicholas-Jay PInot Noir 2016
Nicholas-Jay PInot Noir 2016WINEMAKER TASTING NOTES
Critical Acclaim
Really lovely cherries and brambly raspberries, graphite and red flowers on the nose, leading to a rich and dark, deep, plush and spicy palate that has a very pure core of satiny, silky fruit flavor.
Nicolas Jay Red Vinyl Pinot Noir 2015
Nicolas Jay Red Vinyl Pinot Noir 2015$39.99Add to cart
Nicolas Jay Red Vinyl Pinot Noir 2015
Nicolas Jay Red Vinyl Pinot Noir 2015The 2015 Red Vinyl release from Nicolas-Jay begins with effusive fruit, black currant and cherry pie, with a faint smoky element. The acidity in this wine is integrated and allows the softer, fleshy qualities to dominate on the palate. This easy- drinking composition is reinforced by brilliant tannin—an expression of the Willamette Valley vineyards we work with. The appealing fruit leads to a long and juicy finish.
Fruit is sourced from almost every AVA in the Willamette Valley, ensuring optimal blending potential and representation of the diversity of pinot noir in the appellation. Unique sites include vineyards located in the high-elevation Eola-Amity Hills, the foothills of the cool coastal range in the McMinnville AVA, the warm red-soiled vineyards of the Dundee Hills and our expressive Bishop Creek Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. This wine is sourced almost exclusively from biodynamic, organic and LIVE certified vineyards.
Ovum Off The Grid Riesling 2016
Ovum Off The Grid Riesling 2016Each of John House’s Rieslings is differentiated by AVA and fermentation vessel; this may be the most unique of his stellar lineup. Sourced from the Cedar Ranch vineyard in Oregon’s Illinois Valley, this is fermented with native yeasts in a concrete egg. Its complexity and detail is astonishing, with baby powder, orange peel, pink grapefruit and Meyer lemon. Long, dry and truly off the grid, if not over the moon. –Wine Enthusiast Magazine
Patton Valley Petillant Naturel Pinot Noir Rose
Patton Valley Petillant Naturel Pinot Noir Rose$25.99Add to cart
Patton Valley Petillant Naturel Pinot Noir Rose
Patton Valley Petillant Naturel Pinot Noir Rose
Roserock Drouhin Zephirine Pinot Noir 2017
Roserock Drouhin Zephirine Pinot Noir 2017$61.99Add to cart
Roserock Drouhin Zephirine Pinot Noir 2017
Roserock Drouhin Zephirine Pinot Noir 2017AVA: Eola-Amity Hills
Sustainable Certification: LIVE
About Our Zéphirine Pinot Noir
Our Zéphirine Pinot Noir is a barrel selection cuvée from the Roserock vineyard, and is a reference expression of the site. Zéphirine conveys purity and beauty, reflects winemaker Véronique Drouhin’s dedication to elegance and finesse, and will age meaningfully for years to come. The name refers to the Zéphirine Drouhin variety of climbing rose, which is known for its fragrance and beauty.
The 2017 Vintage
The 2017 growing season began with a surprisingly cool, wet spring, which meant that we didn’t see budbreak until the end of April. Flowering was delayed until late June, but July and August heat helped push harvest up to mid-September. That’s more in line with historical averages, and meant that the Pinot Noir was harvested under cooler temperatures. Like the previous three vintages, yields were strong and the flavor development exciting.
Véronique’s Tasting Notes
The 2017 Zéphirine has a wonderful nose with aromas of red berries, toast, herbs, and purple flowers that calls to mind the perfume of the Zéphirine rose. There is complexity and layered flavors, with a round, almost juicy, central core of fruit. Flavors include crushed red berries, cassis, subtle vanilla, minerals, and cedar. Rich and generous, the texture is soft and silky with bright acidity and fine tannins. The finish is very elegant and long, suggesting that this Zéphirine has an exciting story ahead. Santé!
Smockshop Band Columbia Valley Red Wine II
Smockshop Band Columbia Valley Red Wine II$35.99Add to cart
Smockshop Band Columbia Valley Red Wine II
Smockshop Band Columbia Valley Red Wine IIThis wine is inspired by the multi-variety, multi-vintage “Pleiades” of the legendary California winemaker Sean Thackery. That wine was a composite of various experiments that were aged for a long time in his cellar in Bolinas. The wine was invariably complex, delicious and very reasonably priced. It always drank like a far more expensive wine.
Typically, our wines are made from a single small parcel of grapes, picked on the same day, fermented in the same container and aged in a small collection of barrels that are bottled together. This makes our wines very specific and precise vehicles for communicating the essence of a place. We rarely blend parcels or picks, even from within the same vineyard. This wine is made in a completely different way. It is based on blending and is composed of over 50 different varieties, from four different vineyards, fermented in a myriad of ways and often with very long maceration. Most of the components in this blend were in barrel from between three to five years and the minimum time in older cask was two years.
Of the varieties included I would say that Pinot Noir and Tempranillo influence the flavor profile most strongly. There are certain historic wines from Rioja that allude to Burgundy with their texture and aromatics. Lopez de Heredia’s “Vina Bosconia” is the most famous example of this and in some ways this wine also takes its cue from that wine. It has the kind of nuance and multi-dimensional red-fruited aromatics that Pinot is famous for, but delivers them with slightly more density, cigar-box range aromas, spice and texturized, powerful tannin.
— Nate Ready, winemaker, viticulturalist, possessor of a gnarly beard and a curiosity that never stops…
