AVA: Dundee Hills                                                LOCATION: Worden Hill Rd.

ELEVATION: 425’                                                   SOIL TYPE: Jory

YEAR PLANTED: 1990                                          CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard

VINEYARD SIZE: PGC block 3.5 acres, .8 acres and .5 acres spread across three sections of the vineyard.

TONS/ACRE: 3.25                                                   PICKING DATE: September 24

VINIFICATION: Multiple fermentation vessels and whole cluster inclusions ranging from 0 to 100%.

Winemaking and Notes: 8 of the 15 barrels come from 100% whole cluster fermentations and 7 come from completely destemmed fermenters. Most of the wine comes from the large block located in the ideal location on the bowl-shaped hillside, but 3 barrels came from the block above that seemed to add a dimension of elegance and texture without taking away from the lavishness, deep fruited and structured wine we all know. This combination allows the structure and earthen minerality to be infused with the incredibly lush and dense fruit this vineyard produces creating a wine of great depth, character, complexity and flavor. 15% new barrel was used with a combination of once to four times used barrels to round out the barrel program. This wine wants to be perfect. It is youthful and jumpy right now. As of writing this, there is so much material rolling around with fruit and tannin. Its characteristics are sort of all over the place. Not unusual for great wines to begin at stages like this. This has power, concentration, dry extract, subtle spice undertones and enormous length. This is not necessarily a powerhouse, but it has so much to it that it’s impossible to doubt that there is profundity in this wine’s future. Taste it now for all the incredible stuff going on, but get it because it will be great years down the road.

This is what we consider on a year-in, year-out basis our most unique and exotic wine. This is, as always, our only wine that is made in 100% new Cadus barrels. This wine is a textural experience beyond any of our other wines. Rather than attempting to show, in pain-staking detail, the individual qualities of the vineyards we work with the Notorious bottling is about a particular style of wine that is richer, more intense, denser in texture and more lifted aromatically than our other bottlings. 

In 2018 the eight selected barrels come from Balcombe Vineyard (4 barrels of Pommard planted in 1990 and fermented with 0%, 33% and 60% whole cluster from Blocks 1A, 1B and 2B), Estate Vineyard (2 barrels, 1 each from a 1990 planting of Pommard done with 50% whole clusters and from a 2001 planting of Dijon 114 from the Etzel Block done with 50% whole cluster ) and the vineyard we moniker as Mysterious (2 barrels, 1 each from a 1990 planting of Pommard done with 0% whole clusters and 100% whole cluster). These are all incredibly well farmed vineyard with 3 organic sites representing totality of fruit.

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: 12 Bottles

AVA: Chehalem Mountains                   LOCATION: Kings Grade Rd.

ELEVATION: 325’                                     SOIL TYPE: Willakenzie

YEAR PLANTED: 2007                            CLONAL MATERIAL: 100% Pommard

VINEYARD SIZE: 32-acre vineyard, ~2.7-acre PGC Wadensvil block

VINIFICATION: 3 open-top 1.75 ton fermenters, one with 0%, one with 40% and one 50% whole clusters.

PICKING DATE: September 26th         TONS/ACRE: 3.25

OWNERS: John & Susan Olenik         PRODUCTION: 12 Bottles   

Winemaking and Notes: Olenik Vineyard sits nearly smack dab in the middle of this south facing hillside. The vineyard sits on the same type of thin marine soil as our Estate Vineyard. Wadensvil Clone is especially perfect for this type of soil. The natures of marine sedimentary soil and the Wadensvil clone are nearly a 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 barrels that make up this wine come equally from the fermentations that was done with 50% and no whole clusters with a couple of barrels of the 40% whole cluster fermenter rounding out the balance. 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 50% 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 and a texture like velvet. The 40% seemed to have a little of both. The whole clusters give an incredible backbone to this wine that lends an austerity to this wine 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. The wine is incredibly aromatic and floral but still allows for the back palate to be the guiding force in this wine. This wine is soulful and richer than it at first seems however it is graceful, subtle and sublime and easily one of the most popular wines that we make.

Winemaking and Notes:The fermentation contained around 33% whole cluster fruit from the four blocks this bottling is sourced from. The fruit from Block 2A was done as 100% whole cluster which is our normal method of fermentation with this block. All cuvees went through a standard cold soak of about 5-6 days, fermented in 1.75-ton open-top fermenters and were pigeaged 1x/day until dry. It was then pressed and allowed to settle for 3 days at which point the wine went to barrel. This wine saw only just over 5% new barrels, but over 50% came from once used barrels of the 19.5 selected for this bottling. As mentioned earlier, there are five sections of Balcombe Vineyard. Four of the sections are used to create the Balcombe Vineyard bottling. The section called 1B is separated out into a different bottling. The Balcombe Vineyard bottling is certainly the quintessential Dundee Hills Pinot Noir. Ever since its first bottling in 2000 this wine is all about how the texture and the flavor co-mingle to deliver the EXPERIENCE. This has an irresistible silky texture without being soft or cloying. The manner in which the flavors are delivered are the key component to this wine’s complexity. It is consistently floral on the nose with subtle elements of red-fruit and smoked meat. It has a sneaky ageability to it since it does have such an approachable-when-young nature to it, but recent tastes of the 2001 and 2002 show those wines cruising along beautifully. Drink it for its lovely, youthful nature or save it and it will be a delicious treat 10+ years into the future. Either way you cannot lose.