2023 Estate Vineyard, Patty's Block Pinot Noir

Site History: The vineyard’s original planting dates back to 1984, making it the second oldest established vineyard in what is now the Ribbon Ridge AVA. Plantings of entire blocks have happened in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2010. The site includes 25.5 acres of Pinot Noir (20 acres of Pommard, 3 acres of Dijon 114, 3.1 acres of Wadensvil and 1.4 acres of Coury Clone), 2.5 acres of Sauvignon Blanc and 2 acres of Chardonnay (Dijon 76 and 96). Patricia Green Cellars purchased the property in July, 2000. About 20 acres were planted at that point, including Pinot Gris, which was mercifully grafted over to Pinot Noir in 2002. The vineyard houses the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines in the Willamette Valley. It has also produced the only Pinot Noir to receive a score of 100 from a major, national wine publication.

Site Characteristics: The vineyard starts, lightly sloped in the middle/bottom of the hill at the winery and moves quickly up a steep slope and eventually all the way to the top of the hill where it falls of 360 degrees, planted in every direction. The blocks represent palpable differences in aspect, elevation, clone and vine age. This has allowed for numerous bottlings based upon unique wine characteristics making it the vineyard with the single most Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir bottlings having come from it in the state of Oregon.  The vineyard has a thin layer of extremely dry and silty topsoil that sits upon mostly a hill of shale and sandstone. Toward the very bottom of the site some deeper, very soft blue-gray clay becomes the subsoil. It is highly drained, erosion-prone soil. The vineyard is farmed entirely organically and is dry farmed. Large, deep stands of trees on the east and west sides of the property frame the vineyard, provide shade at certain times of they day and act as a home for a variety of woodland creatures including mountain lion, bobcat, black bear, coyote and deer. Unlike vineyards even 2-3 miles to the east, the Estate Vineyard receives very little wind during the growing season. The planted portion of the property ranges from 235’ to around 485’.

The Block: In the spring of 2000 we took over the farming of what is now our Estate Vineyard from Autumn Wind Winery and Vineyard. Even though the purchase of the property and business would not occur until later that year we were entrusted with running the operation as if it were our own already. The vineyard was only around 22 acres at the time with a good deal of plantable land available. We planted a couple of blocks in the spring of 2000 and began the process of giving all of the blocks names. For reasons that remain unclear, even to this day, a section of the vineyard that was designated as Block 12 we renamed as the Lakeview Block. The next door neighbors have a decent sized lake on their property that is visible from certain parts of our vineyard. However, the Lakeview Block is not one of those places. Nevertheless, the block name stuck but we always knew that there might be an opportunity to change it. Over the years this block has emerged from being one that had its first production in our first year to one of the best, most reliable and productive blocks of Pinot Noir in the vineyard. By 2023 this block had gone beyond simply being the backbone of the Old Vine bottling and was now something entirely its own. It seemed that this was the time to bottle this wine on its own and to re-name this important section of the vineyard. For years we thought that having a block that paid homage to Patty was in order but we needed something to establish itself as the right location. This block is it. It starts at the apex of the vineyard and moves steeply down the south slope. It only began to bear fruit when we arrived and has transformed into a block that produces extraordinary wine. This is Patty’s Block.

Farming Practices: We have done the management of this property internally since we purchased it in 2000 with the exception of 2014 and 2015 when Sterling Fox’s management service did the work. Also, at that time, the vineyard was switched entirely to organic farming practices and remains so to this day. The vineyard has always been dry farmed.

Picking Dates, Tonnages, Tons/Acre: Picked on September 15, 2023. 7.937 tons (4.38 tons/acre).

Vinification: All fermenters were completely destemmed.

Winemaking: Fermentations were managed exclusively by pigeages to ensure gentle handling, extraction and delicate tannin construction. Cold soaks lasted for 4 days for both fermenters. Full fermentation from beginning to pressing lasted 18 days. A 48-hour settling of pressed wine occurred prior to being racked to barrel. All barrels were on full lees until assemblage for bottling. Bottled without fining or filtration.

Barrels: This 8-barrel bottling consists of 4 new Cadus barrels (50%), 1 one-year barrel (12%) and 3 (38%) twice-used barrels. Wine was in barrel until late July and bottled in late August allowing for around 10 months in barrel.

Notes: The Estate Vineyard, Patty’s Block has a uniqueness even within the context of a vineyard that has produced 7 other distinct Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir bottlings. This block has been producing a wonderful, darker fruited wine that showed the nuance that is the hallmark of the Old Vine bottling. In 2023 a new version of this block appeared. The wine is deeper and sweeter in fruit than it has been previously. There is a lushness that works with the dark fruit to give it a that extra dimension that our best wines, especially from the Estate Vineyard, display. This is like a theoretical cross between the Bonshaw Block bottling and the First Vines bottlings (done in 2017 and 2018). This is a fully unique wine in a special place in our vineyard. This is a special wine that is something we think Patty would have found worthy of the time and effort we put into bringing this block from its infancy in 2000 to this grand state we now have the privilege to witness and experience.

The wine finished with numbers of a TA of 5.5, a pH of 3.54, a free sulfur level below 25 ppm and a total sulfur below 80 ppm.