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.  

AVA: Willamette Valley       LOCATION: Burnell Rd.  

Wine Making and Notes: As always this is simply perfect material from one single block of the vineyard (East Liberty Block), all Dijon 115 Clone Pinot Noir planted in 2004. This bottling has always emphasized the ability of whole cluster fermentation to shine with fruit from this vineyard. Nine barrels came from 50% whole cluster ferments, 5 from 100% and 4 from 20% whole cluster ferments. This mix deftly mixes the more fruit forward aspects of lower whole cluster usage with the aromatic and complexity inherent to higher whole cluster ferments.  There are no new barrels on this wine and, in fact, there is only one barrel that was used just once previously. The bulk of the barrels used for this wine were completely neutral so to further enhance the incredible nature of this vineyard-driven bottling. This has a strong, black-fruited tone to it with a range of flavors and spices mingled in for complexity. The tannins are sticky and firm and born entirely of the fruit. This wine will reward with a long life of aging, but will also be appreciated by fans of intense and sinewy Pinots in its youth.

AVA: Ribbon Ridge      LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

Wine Making and Notes: Named as such because this section of our vineyard planted in 1986 slopes to the northeast directly toward our neighbor Beaux Freres. The name is an homage to the owner and winemaker there, Mike Etzel. This wine has always pulled some of the most interesting characteristics out of the site and that is its reason for existing on its own. For some reason this has always been the most nuanced, most mineral-driven, most particularly Pinot Noir-sous bois sort of thing going on of all our wines. There are 2 sections within the East Etzel Block and for the first time they are both being used in this bottling. The older Pommard (planted in 1986) was 20% whole cluster and went through a standard cold soak of about 5 day, fermented in a single 1.75 ton open top fermenter and was pigeaged 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. The Dijon 114 was done 100% de-stemmed, went through a standard cold soak of about 5 days, fermented in two separate 1.75 ton open top fermenters and was pumped over until fermentation started and then it was only pigeaged 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. This spent a little less than a year in 17% new barrels along with a combination of a one time and a four times used barrel. This wine is aromatically extremely complex and nuanced to a fault. Minerality and seductive darker fruits combine with great complexity on the palate to create a wine that shows how elegant, intricate, intense and soil-influenced older vine Pinot Noirs from Ribbon Ridge can be. The addition of whole cluster fermentation furthers the aromatic qualities and drives the graphite notes on the palate and tightens the tannins up on the back end. *WINE CLUB ONLY

AVA: Ribbon Ridge        LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

AVA: Willamette Valley           LOCATION: Burnell Rd.  

ELEVATION: 500’                    SOIL TYPE: Bellpine

YEAR PLANTED: 2000           CLONAL MATERIAL: Dijon Clone 115, Pommard, Coury Clone & Wadensvil

VINEYARD SIZE: 85-acre vineyard, ~11-acre PGC block

VINIFICATION: Various: fermentations ranging from 0-100% in both 1.75- and 2.5-top open-top fermenters

PICKING DATE: 9/27-10/06/17          TONS/ACRE: Approx. 3.50

OWNERS: Dan and Helen Dusschee           PRODUCTION: 710 cases bottled

This bottling is comprised of 80% Dijon 115 across all three blocks with all wines containing 40-50% whole clusters in the fermentation. About 15% comes from the older vine Wadensvil which was fermented with about 60% whole clusters. The Coury and Pommard round out the blend. This wine was in barrel for a little less than a year in around 20% new oak and a combination of once-five times used barrels. It has the deep pigmentation, floral aromatics, intense mid-palate sweetness with structured finishing tannins. It is funny to us that this is our “regular” bottling of Freedom Hill simply due to the existence of our small clonal bottlings. By any measure this is a terrific, site-specific Pinot Noir from one of Oregon’s classic and historical vineyards. This has incredibly well-farmed material that provides the wine with great intensity and balance. This is far from “regular” but nonetheless here at PGC that is what it is although we have taken to calling it “Freedom Hill Classic!”. Bang for the buck/Quality-to-price ratio/however you want to term it, this wine is off the charts. This has so much to it that it will drink well almost immediately, but the upside is that it will drink beautifully a decade from now.

AVA: Ribbon Ridge      LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

Wine Making and Notes: Named as such because this section of our vineyard planted in 1986 slopes to the northeast directly toward our neighbor Beaux Freres. The name is an homage to the owner and winemaker there, Mike Etzel. This wine has always pulled some of the most interesting characteristics out of the site and that is its reason for existing on its own. For some reason this has always been the most nuanced, most mineral-driven, most particularly Pinot Noir-sous bois sort of thing going on of all our wines. There are 2 sections within the East Etzel Block and for the first time they are both being used in this bottling. The older Pommard (planted in 1986) was 20% whole cluster and went through a standard cold soak of about 5 day, fermented in a single 1.75 ton open top fermenter and was pigeaged 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. The Dijon 114 was done 100% de-stemmed, went through a standard cold soak of about 5 days, fermented in two separate 1.75 ton open top fermenters and was pumped over until fermentation started and then it was only pigeaged 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. This spent a little less than a year in 17% new barrels along with a combination of a one time and a four times used barrel. This wine is aromatically extremely complex and nuanced to a fault. Minerality and seductive darker fruits combine with great complexity on the palate to create a wine that shows how elegant, intricate, intense and soil-influenced older vine Pinot Noirs from Ribbon Ridge can be. The addition of whole cluster fermentation furthers the aromatic qualities and drives the graphite notes on the palate and tightens the tannins up on the back end. *WINE CLUB ONLY

2017 Estate Vineyard, First Vines Pinot Noir: This is the original planting of the Estate Vineyard done in 1984. Historically, we have referred to it as “Winery Block” as it is the section of vineyard right behind the building. There are two distinct plantings in this block. One is a newer planting we did in 2000 to tighten the spacing and hedge our bets against future phylloxera (good choice) and to increase the overall size of our vineyard. The other is the first vines, the original block planted in 1984, which are the sole source of this special wine. Over the past two to three years we started the process of removing the old plants and the life from them. The vines that remain unscathed are now producing incredible wine. This fruit usually goes into the creation of the Estate Old Vine Pinot Noir but now, in its last few years of production, it has taken a step beyond that level of quality to something truly spectacular. However, it is fleeting. In 2017 there was enough to produce 5 barrels. In 2018 only enough for 3. These two vintages are likely to be the only bottlings ever produced exclusively from this old block.

The wine was harvested in very early October, in perfect conditions and fermented with 50% whole clusters. It was barrel aged for just under a year in a combination of 33% new oak and neutral barrels. Despite making 5 barrels we only bottled 3 (for a total of just under 75 cases) as the other two went toward the Patty Green Commemorative bottling we will release later this year. The signature of our Estate Old Vine bottling is purity of red fruit inter-laced with minerality. This wine is an intensified and focused version of that. It is beautiful, thrilling and haunting in a way. There is nothing like it that we have ever produced and, sadly, after the 2018 won’t get to again for many years. This wine has some magic and it is undoubtedly the queen of the wines that this site has produced over the years.