AVA: Dundee Hills

LOCATION: Herring Ln. just south of Hwy 240

ELEVATION: 325-475’

SOIL TYPE: Jory-ish

YEAR PLANTED: 1992

CLONAL MATERIAL: 50% Dijon 115, 25% Wadensvil and 25% Pommard

VINEYARD SIZE: 16-acre vineyard, 4+-acre PGC blocks

VINIFICATION: Several 1.75-ton open-top fermenters done with 100% whole cluster and one 0% whole cluster fermentation in a 1.75 ton fermenter

PICKING DATE: 09/25 and 09/28/19 TONS/ACRE: 2.72

OWNERS: The Cliff and Allison Anderson

PRODUCTION: 246 cases bottled

AVA: Dundee Hills

LOCATION: Herring Ln. just south of Hwy 240

ELEVATION: 325-475’

SOIL TYPE: Jory-ish

YEAR PLANTED: 1992

CLONAL MATERIAL: 50% Dijon 115, 25% Wadensvil and 25% Pommard

VINEYARD SIZE: 16-acre vineyard, 4+-acre PGC blocks

VINIFICATION: Several 1.75-ton open-top fermenters done with 100% whole cluster and one 0% whole cluster fermentation in a 1.75 ton fermenter

PICKING DATE: 09/25 and 09/28/19 TONS/ACRE: 2.72

OWNERS: The Cliff and Allison Anderson

PRODUCTION: 246 cases bottled

AVA: Chehalem Mountains                          LOCATION: Kings Grade Rd.

ELEVATION: 325’                                          SOIL TYPE: Willakenzie

YEAR PLANTED: 2007

CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard        VINEYARD SIZE: 32-acre vineyard, ~1.0-acre PGC Anklebreaker (Pommard) block

VINIFICATION: 2 open-top fermenters, a 1.75 ton and a 2.5 ton, the former with 40% whole clusters the latter with 60% whole clusters.

PICKING DATE: September 22nd               TONS/ACRE: 3.33

Winemaking and Notes:The Madrone Block, planted to Dijon 115 Clone 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. One of the reasons that the Dundee Hills was the place that initially defined all of Oregon Pinot Noir and why this AVA remains so sought after in terms of plantable vineyard land is that, quite simply, the wines from here are delicious. In their relative youth vines here produce ripe fruit that wants to be pleasing and friendly. The Madrone Block is just about to get to its 20^th leaf, so it still exists in a spot where it produces fruit that makes wine people want to enjoy.  It is plush wish richness and ripe characteristics, but it also has balanced acidity and enough tannin to keep everything where it needs to be. This is definitely deep in fruit and oozing with textural appeal creating a long, graceful and entirely charming wine. 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.

AVA: Ribbon Ridge                                      LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

ELEVATION: 250-475’                                  SOIL TYPE: Wellsford

CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard       VINEYARD SIZE: 30-acre vineyard

VINIFICATION: Pommard fermented in 1.75 open-top fermenters, 100% destemmed, Wadensvil also in 1.75 ton fermenters done 60% whole cluster.

PICKING DATE: Multiple dates from 09/19 to 10/04/18

TONS/ACRE: 3.25                                       OWNERS: Patricia Green Cellars

PRODUCTION: 4 Bottles

Wine Making and Notes:This bottling has always been a powerful view of this vineyard site and we still have blocks in the vineyard in the 10-21 year-old range that have not made (will not make?) the change to the far more chic and mineral-driven Estate Old Vine style. That is fine. Our Estate Vineyard is fairly large and incredibly diverse, so having two very different wines coming off of it is great. 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 with relatively thick 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, for the first time ever, a 2000 planting of Pommard that faces east at the top and back of the vineyard. This section has finally developed into something beautiful and representative of this site and particular bottling and we are very excited about its inclusion in this wine! The lower block of Pommard by the winery was done with 50% stem inclusion while all the fruit from the other two blocks were done as 100% de-stemmed. Everything 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. This spent a little less than a year in barrel with only 3% being new barrels while 86% were neutral so there is minimal oak influence in this wine allowing the pure nature of this dark Ribbon Ridge bottling to really come out. We dry farm our vineyard and these younger vines, even at 19-21 years of vine age, 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 with a hefty and dense structure. This can be a bit savage in nature when youthful but it comes around surprisingly fast and, of course, is good for many years.

AVA: Ribbon Ridge                                          LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

ELEVATION: 450’                                              SOIL TYPE: Wellsdale

CLONAL MATERIAL: Pommard, Dijon 114    YEAR PLANTED: 1986, 2001

VINEYARD SIZE: 30-acre vineyard, 2.55-acre block

VINIFICATION: All 50% whole cluster fermentations in 1.75 ton open top fermenters.

PICKING DATE: 09/25 and 09/27/18               TONS/ACRE: 3.05

OWNERS: Patricia Green Cellars                  PRODUCTION: 5 Bottles

*Wine Club Only

Winemaking and Notes:The Etzel block section of our vineyard planted in 1986 slopes to the northwest 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 and most mineral-driven of all our wines. There are 2 sections within the East Etzel Block as we interplanted rows in this block the year after we arrived. The rows were still 12 feet apart and we wanted to have tighter spacing so Dijon 114 was interplanted to make more efficient use of the land. The older Pommard (planted in 1986) was fermented in a single 1.75-ton open-top fermenter with 50% whole clusters, and went through a standard cold soak of about 5 days before being pigeaged 1x/day, pressed, and allowed to settle for 3 days. The Dijon 114 was fermented in three separate 1.75-ton open-top fermenters, all of which had 50% whole cluster inclusion, before going through a standard cold soak of about 5 days, and being pumped over until fermentation started. It was only pigeaged 1x/day before being pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days. The wine spent a little less than a year in 33% new barrels along with a combination of a one time- and a four times-used barrel. This wine is aromatically complex and nuanced. Minerality and seductive dark fruits combined with great complexity on the palate creates a wine that shows elegance, intricacy and intensity. This is a perfect example of how soil-influenced older vine Pinots from the 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.

Winemaking and Notes:  Winemaking and Notes: As the Estate vines tap their roots deep into the soft sub-soil they eventually make contact with the mineralized water on the property. This brings a whole new element to the flavor and texture profile of the wine. This bottling comes from barrels sourced from both the West and East Etzel Blocks done both destemmed and with 50% whole cluster fermentations, a 1990 planting of Pinot Gris that was grafted to Pommard in 2002 that was done with three fermenters of destemmed fruit which were all pressed together, a 1997 planting of Pommard on a steep southwest facing slope that was all fermented with 50% whole clusters and 9 barrels of Wadensvil (for the first time ever in this bottling!) with fermentations ranging from destemmed to 66% whole cluster. Given the diversity within the vineyard (we have a 360-degree aspect on our hillside vineyard) and the range of vine age (22-33 years) we were able to pick at different times and then blend this together with a greater degree of diversity than we have ever had available. The wine was bottled with just over 20% new barrel. The assemblage for this particular wine is always fascinating, because you can see the wine come together as the elements from each block are added in. This wine is one of the few truly older vine bottlings that exists from Ribbon Ridge. Older vineyards here, have the capacity to translate the mineral laden nature of our water and soil into the refined, focused nature of the fruit. This AVA is a special place and makes some of the most interesting, dramatic and amazing as some of our bottlings, and this is one of them!

AVA: Ribbon Ridge                            LOCATION: North Valley Rd.  

AVA: Willamette Valley       LOCATION: Burnell Rd.

ELEVATION: 500’                SOIL TYPE: Bellpine

YEAR PLANTED: 2001        CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard

VINEYARD SIZE: Vineyard is 85 acres/PGC Blocks total 14 acres

TONS/ACRE: 2.65                 VINIFICATION: 2 x 1.75 ton fermenters with 100% destemmed fruote and 43% whole cluster fermentions.

PICKING DATE: 9/30/18

OWNERS: Dan & Helen Dusschee      

Winemaking and Notes: This is where our bread is buttered. There is no denying that we work with Pommard clone far more than any other clone and that there is something to Pommard that makes it not only stand out but has the capacity to stand on its own as a complete wine more often than any other clone we work with. Within the non-Freedom Hill Vineyard futures offerings all of them are either Pommard or contain Pommard with the exception of the two specifically chosen Wadensvil clone bottlings. Of the three clone-designated wines we bottle from the site this one seems capture what may be the historical view of Freedom Hill Vineyard. This section of the vineyard was re-planted in 2001. This is a dark, dark wine with a rich, plush mid-palate (even at this early stage) that is layered with muscle. Over the past couple of vintages we have experimented with whole cluster usage on this block and the results are extremely appealing. There is still an Old World nature at the heart of this wine even though it pulsates with its Oregon heritage and sensibilities. This shows savory tones mixed with wild, brambly fruits on the nose. Drinks at a high-pitched level with bright, crunchy red fruits, earth-born characteristics and a distinct spicy note on the finish.

AVA: Chehalem Mountains                          LOCATION: Kings Grade Rd.

ELEVATION: 325’                                          SOIL TYPE: Willakenzie

YEAR PLANTED: 2007

CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard        VINEYARD SIZE: 32-acre vineyard, ~1.0-acre PGC Anklebreaker (Pommard) block

VINIFICATION: 2 open-top fermenters, a 1.75 ton and a 2.5 ton, the former with 40% whole clusters the latter with 60% whole clusters.

PICKING DATE: September 22nd               TONS/ACRE: 3.33

OWNER: John & Susan Olenik                   PRODUCTION: 1 Bottle

Winemaking and Notes:There was a range of whole cluster fermentations ranging from 45% to 100% stem-inclusion that were created from the fruit we received from this block in 2018. They allwent through a normal cold soak of 4 to 5 days and then were fermented in 1.75-ton open-top fermenters (as well as one 2.5 ton round that was done 100% whole cluster and is the bedrock of this bottling) and pigeaged 1x/day until dry and then was pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days before being pressed separately to allow for specific blending later in the year. The wine spent about 11 months in barrel in 27% new oak. 13 barrels of the 100% whole cluster fermentation barrels were selected with 7 coming from the 2.5 ton fermentation and 5 from 45% whole cluster fermentations. This combination allows for the forward, supple nature of Dundee Hills fruit to be showcased while held in check by the old vine, mineral-driven elements of the 100% whole cluster barrels. There is sweet red fruit that is overlaid by a distinctly savory aspect creating a dichotomy upon which complexity exists. This is a wine that has old bones and sensibilities to it while still having the stuffing that Dundee Hill wines are known for all while being an insanely rare example due to the vine age that helps define this wine’s boundaries.

These now monster vines were planted back in 1973 making them some of the oldest vines in Oregon, thus giving this bottling an historical aspect to it. 46-year-old vines in Oregon are exceptionally rare both because there was so little planted acreage back then and some of that acreage has been re-planted due to Phylloxera. The fact 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. It shows finesse, subtleness, elegance and discreet balance all backed up by a sneaky and looming firmness. 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.