Two fermenters of fruit were 100% de-stemmed and went through a normal cold soak of 4 to 5 days and then was fermented in 1.75-ton open-top fermenters and was punched down 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. Two other fermenters were done with 20% whole clusters, went through a standard cold soak of about 5-6 days, pumped over 1x/day until fermentation began and then was pigeaged 1x/day until dry and then was pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. The wine spent about 10 months in barrel in 33% new oak. 5 and ½ barrels of the 20% whole cluster fermentation barrels were selected and 3 ½ from the 100% whole cluster fermentations. This combination allows for the forward, supple nature of Dundee Hills fruit to be showcased while in check by the old vine, mineral-driven elements of the 100% whole cluster barrels. This is a wine that has old bones and sensibilities to it while still having the stuffing that Dundee Hill wines are known for.

These now monster vines were planted back in 1973 making them some of the oldest vines in Oregon and thus giving this bottling an historical aspect to it. 44 year-old vines in Oregon are exceptionally rare both because there was so little planted acreage back then and because some of that acreage has been re-planted due to phylloxera That this site and wine exist at all is somewhat of a minor miracle. In part due to this, this wine knows exactly what it wants to be. This is finesse, subtleness, elegance and discreet balance all backed up by a sneaky and looming firmness that comes on in the back of the wine. Only older vines make wines like this. This is not a wine that needs to make a dramatic entrance because all the work is done on the back end.

93 Points   (Wine Enthusiast)

This excellent vineyard brings a fuller, chunkier style to the 2017 lineup. The powerful fruit emphasizes black cherry flavors, wrapped in a veneer of barrel toast. The tannins are astringent and leave an impression of black tea. As with all of the winery's 2017s, this young wine will benefit from another year or two of bottle age before being opened.

AVA: Dundee Hills     

LOCATION: Breyman Orchards Rd.

Wine Making and Notes: The Madrone Block’s Dijon 115 planting creates a much different Pinot Noir than the Pommard Clone from the Bishop Block, and it is special enough to be bottled on its own. In the 2017 we utilized an 8 ton open top fermenter for all of the de-stemmed fruit from this block. This requires and intense regiment of pumping over while punching down to ensure both gentle and effective reincorporation of solids with the juice. Four of the seven barrels were chosen from this lot. The remaining two fermenters were 100% whole cluster fermentations to provide a level of structure and savory aspects into the densely fruited large de-stemmed fermentation. The remaining three barrels of the bottling were selected from these ferments. So, this still brings in the velvety texture that Dundee Hills Pinot Noirs can have although the more rigid tannin from the one barrel can be felt in the back of the wine, if only for a fleeting moment. This is definitely deep in fruit and oozing with textural appeal. This borders right on sultry as all bottlings of this block have since we began producing it in 2012. Almost certainly, this is the single vineyard designate with the most upfront appeal to it. This will show sweet red fruits which are certainly a staple of the vintage with classic Dundee Hill sweet spices. Hard not to like.

91 Points   (Wine Enthusiast)

Nicely textured, this weaves strawberry fruit with elements of parsley and graphite in a well-balanced, medium-weight wine. The tannin management is spot-on, firm but polished, and the overall mix of fruit and acidity and tannins suggests that this will cellar well for up to a decade.

AVA: Ribbon Ridge     

LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

Wine Making and Notes:  This bottling has always been the powerful view of this vineyard site and we still have blocks in the vineyard in the 7-20-year-old range that have not made (will not make?) the change to the far more stylish and mineral-driven Estate Old Vine style. That is fine. Our Estate Vineyard is fairly large and incredibly diverse so having two wholly different wines coming off of it is hardly surprising or in any difficult to deal with. To us, this is the exciting part of Pinot Noir and vineyard management, and the marriage of the two in winemaking. The wine is dark in color, dense in earth-tinged dark fruits and relatively thick with tannins. However, as the vineyard has aged, fewer blocks are still producing this style of wine that seems to be indicative of the young vines. This comes from just three blocks: a 1998 southeast-facing planting of Pommard, a 2000 south-southeast facing planting of Pommard at lower elevation and a 1997 planting of Wadensvil that faces northeast and northwest. The wine is mostly Pommard with just a touch of the Wadensvil rounding it out. The composition of this wine changes regularly vintage to vintage. The Pommard was 100% de-stemmed, went through a standard cold soak of about 4-7 days depending on the block, fermented in 1.75-ton open-top fermenters and was pigeaged 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. The Wadensvil was done as 60% whole cluster and despite the difference in clone and whole cluster fermentations the fermenters and the handling of the fruit in fermenter were the same. This spent a little less than a year in barrel with 20% being new and the rest that were previously used between two and six times so there is minimal oak influence in this wine. These vines do not have the root depth of the significantly older sections of the vineyard and therefore do not necessarily feed upon and drink the same material. Since we dry farm these younger vines, even at 16-20 years of vine age they are still under a bit of duress. This leads to small, tight clusters and fairly thick skins. This gives the wine its trademark dark, almost purplish color and hefty, dense tannic structure. This is filled in quite easily by liqueur-like dark fruit. This can be a bit savage in nature when youthful but it comes around surprisingly fast and, of course, is good for years and years.

94 Points  (Wine Enthusiast)

Named to honor neighbor Michael Etzel (Beaux Frères), this concentrated blend of estate-grown blocks (mostly Pommard) rolls from cranberry to raspberry to deep black cherry fruit, all in sync and well ripened. It's a full-bodied wine, with a streak of Nutella leading into a smooth, supple, lingering finish.

AVA: Ribbon Ridge     

LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

Wine Making and Notes: Coury Clone Pinot Noir has a fascinating background tale that is literally rooted in the earliest history of the Oregon wine industry. The short version is that Charles Coury submitted his master’s thesis for cool climate winegrowing to the University of California at Davis while studying in Alsace, France in 1964. He brought cuttings back to the U.S. when he returned that summer. From these small and straight forward beginnings the plantings and legend of the Coury Clone begins. For a full and detailed account of this very, very interesting agricultural story that was lost to history for some time please go to The Price of Pinot’s website (http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/1214/) and read for yourself.

92 Points  (Wine Enthusiast)

These vines, planted in 2001, bring brambly berry fruit front and center, punched up nicely with the vineyard's characteristic savory herbs. It's a complex young wine, still stiff and a bit unyielding, but with the balance and components to blossom after a couple of more years in the bottle.

AVA: Willamette Valley      

LOCATION: Burnell Rd.

ELEVATION: 500’               

SOIL TYPE: Bellpine

YEAR PLANTED: 2001       

CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard

OWNERS: Dan & Helen Dusschee      

This trio of wines, where we attempt to show you the nature of Freedom Hill Vineyard through the lens of a single clone, have been exceptionally popular and very well received. The 2015 Dijon 115 was referred to as “sharing the traits of Romanee St. Vivant” while the Pommard “could pass for a New World Richebourg” by Josh Reynolds of Vinous.com. Despite that high praise it was the 2015 Coury Clone that netted the highest score of the three wines with 95 points.

The 2016s are largely by the boards already at this juncture, but the 2017s operate in the same sort of stratosphere as previous vintages. The Dijon 115 will be selected from a wider variety of barrels than ever before and its depth, character and complexity will reflect its larger pool of possible components. The Pommard may well turn out to be the most fascinating of the six bottlings we have made previously of this intense version of Freedom Hill. The Coury Clone will be, as always, the crown jewel of the cellar, combining amazing aromatics, fantastic texture and unique flavors.

Lia’s Vineyard, to us, is about the unusual (in Oregon) combination of soil types due to the change in elevation that the vineyard has over a relatively small amount of overall acreage. That is what makes this vineyard fascinating and, in our cellar, totally unique. The Pommard at higher elevation in volcanic soil produces intense, sultry and concentrated Pinot Noir and the Dijon 115 leans to a much more structured and savory style since it comes from the marine soil at the bottom of the vineyard (this is still in the middle of the overall hillside). The Mariafeld is at an even lower spot on the hill than the Dijon 115 and it adds its own little thing to the whole situation.

We chose a total of nine barrels for the 2017 Lia’s Vineyard bottling. In 2017, due to space constraints, the Lia’s Vineyard clones of Pinot Noir were co-fermented in 2 separate fermenters. The nine-ton fermenter was 67% Dijon 115, 18% Pommard and 15% Mariafeld. The smaller fermenter was 67% Pommard and 33% Mariafeld. We generally prefer to ferment clones separately but the circumstances of harvest led us to this sort of happy accident. We ended up choosing 6 barrels from the large fermenter and 3 barrels from the smaller. Over the years we have been refining our approach to the Lia’s Vineyard fruit and working to draw out the more subtle aspects we believe it has, in favor of the more overt, fruit forward nature it also has the ability to display. The 2017 is a bit more fruit driven than the previous vintage due to the nature of the fermentations but in some way that might not be a bad thing. There is an aromatic element to it that is far more floral than it has been in the past vintages and the wine is a bit more inviting. It’s full of space for one to explore rather than being a wine that simply rushes at you with a full-throttled intensity. This wine is quite integrated at a very young age which is surprising given the dispirit clones, vine ages, elevations and soil types. Likely due to the co-fermentation and de-stemmed fruit we have a quite seamless and lush Lia’s which works with the aromatic etherealness of the vintage and the floral nature of the site. This may not have the purity and well-rounded beauty of the 2016 but it is immensely pleasurable and will be delicious for years to come.