93 Points – Cellar Selection  (Wine Enthusiast)

The Coury clone cuttings were obtained from the Hyland vineyard, and this makes an interesting comparison to that cuvée, also from Patricia Green. Rock and berry dominate here, with root flavors of beet and parsnip. It's a sleek wine, with pinpoint raspberry fruit underscored with minerals. Delicious now, but can be cellared for a decade or longer.

AVA: Willamette Valley   LOCATION: Burnell Rd., Dallas, OR  

ELEVATION: 500’    SOIL TYPE: Bellpine

YEAR PLANTED: 1998    CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Coury

VINEYARD SIZE: 85-acre vineyard, 1.1-acre PGC block  VINIFICATION: 2.5-ton open-top fermenters done with 100% whole cluster and 35% whole cluster fermentations.

PICKING DATE: 09/27/17     TONS/ACRE: 3.23

OWNERS: Dan and Helen Dusschee      PRODUCTION: 216 cases bottled

Winemaking and Notes: This is an amazing old vineyard. How, back in 1972, someone decided to plant this insanely remote vineyard well southwest of McMinnville is sort of beyond me. Nonetheless, this nearly 50 year-old vineyard is the defining site in the McMinnville AVAs and is one of the renowned vineyards in the state of Oregon. The site is farmed biodynamically and the attention to detail there is amazing, especially when one takes into account the size (around 135 acres). We were offered a small section of the site planted to Coury Clone in 1989. Given our predilection for collecting the great sites of Oregon in our cellar, our desire to work with beautifully farmed old vine fruit and our obsession with Coury Clone this was a no-brainer.

Our instincts proved correct. This is easily one of the top wines in the cellar from 2017 and given that we bottled 26 other Pinot Noirs that is saying a lot. Having the experience with the Freedom Hill Coury Clone definitely gave us insight into what the potential was and what the experience of the clone’s impact within the context of the site’s terroir was going to be but, holy cow, we did not know we were getting something like this. Hyland is higher elevation and thus in volcanic (Jory) soil while Freedom Hill is lower and in marine (Bellpine) soil. The difference the soil

AVA: Willamette Valley   LOCATION: Burnell Rd., Dallas, OR  

ELEVATION: 500’    SOIL TYPE: Bellpine

YEAR PLANTED: 1998    CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Coury

VINEYARD SIZE: 85-acre vineyard, 1.1-acre PGC block  VINIFICATION: 2.5-ton open-top fermenters done with 100% whole cluster and 35% whole cluster fermentations.

PICKING DATE: 09/27/17     TONS/ACRE: 3.23

OWNERS: Dan and Helen Dusschee      PRODUCTION: 216 cases bottled

Winemaking and Notes: This is an amazing old vineyard. How, back in 1972, someone decided to plant this insanely remote vineyard well southwest of McMinnville is sort of beyond me. Nonetheless, this nearly 50 year-old vineyard is the defining site in the McMinnville AVAs and is one of the renowned vineyards in the state of Oregon. The site is farmed biodynamically and the attention to detail there is amazing, especially when one takes into account the size (around 135 acres). We were offered a small section of the site planted to Coury Clone in 1989. Given our predilection for collecting the great sites of Oregon in our cellar, our desire to work with beautifully farmed old vine fruit and our obsession with Coury Clone this was a no-brainer.

Our instincts proved correct. This is easily one of the top wines in the cellar from 2017 and given that we bottled 26 other Pinot Noirs that is saying a lot. Having the experience with the Freedom Hill Coury Clone definitely gave us insight into what the potential was and what the experience of the clone’s impact within the context of the site’s terroir was going to be but, holy cow, we did not know we were getting something like this. Hyland is higher elevation and thus in volcanic (Jory) soil while Freedom Hill is lower and in marine (Bellpine) soil. The difference the soil has here across the clone is striking. While still possessing the interesting aromatics and tea-like characteristics the fruit is strikingly red-dominated and the texture is a magical, ethereal veil that allows the flavors to deftly cruise over it making for a discreet, sublime and incredibly complex wine. This is an exciting wine from a brilliant, esoteric site and

AVA: Chehalem Mountains    LOCATION: Kings Grade Rd.

ELEVATION: 375’       SOIL TYPE: Willakenzie

YEAR PLANTED: 1991     CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Wadensvil

VINEYARD SIZE: 32-acre vineyard, ~2.7-acre PGC Wadensvil block   VINIFICATION: 2 open-top 1.5 ton fermenters. One fermenter containing 100% de-stemmed fruit, the other containing 60% whole cluster fruit.

PICKING DATE: October 5th     TONS/ACRE: 2.0

OWNER: John & Susan Olenik      PRODUCTION: 288 cases bottled              

Winemaking and Notes:  The combination of marine sedimentary soil and Wadensvil creates a nearly perfect intersection for Pinot Noir in Oregon. Wadensvil tends toward more elegant, high-toned and red-fruited wines while the sedimentary soil adds an element of structure and turns the wine distinctly toward a very mineral-driven mid-palate and finish. The ten barrels that make up this wine come equally from a fermentation that was done with 60% whole clusters and from a fermenter that was 100% de-stemmed. Despite the differences in the make-up of the fermentations the bins were both pigeaged 1x/day and pressed separately on the same day. The fruit that was fermented with 60% whole clusters emphasizes minerals, spices and back-palate structure all of which provide tension in the herb-laced red fruit. The de-stemmed barrels are a rush of sweet, feminine red fruit with a velvet-like texture. We’ve been using this combination for this particular bottling for the past couple of vintages in some form or another. The whole clusters give an incredible backbone to the wine that lends an austerity that benefits it not only down the road but in the here and now, allowing it to be the wine from the Chehalem Mountains that is the most elegant, graceful and refined of the bottlings. This wine is incredibly aromatic and floral but still allows for the back palate to be the guiding force. This is a sneaky, subtle wine that will playfully hint at grandiosity.  *WINE CLUB ONLY