2023 Pinot Noir, Mount Richmond Vineyard

From Winemaker, John Abbott:

We love working with this iconic vineyard, because it is carefully managed by a crew that farms it for their own winery, Elk Cove Vineyards. This can make a big difference in the approach. They are a great group of talented people, who make amazing wines and we are fortunate to be one of the few wineries that has access to this fruit.

Pinot Noir is especially expressive between the various clones and vineyard sites, and this wine, in comparison with our Freedom Hill Pinot Noir, is a wonderful example. Mount Richmond Vineyard yields a deep, dark, complex, and more tannic old-world style wine. Dark briar blackberries and plum characters take the lead. The fruit is ripe but not jammy. Fruit leather, tobacco, baking spice, and vanilla wafer finish with sultry floral notes of purple lilac flowers. This is a serious wine that will have excellent longevity in the cellar.

The 2019 growing season was a welcome change from the intense heat of the 2018 vintage. In addition, the crop size was much lower per plant contributing to flavor intensity and complexity. The cooler weather allowed for superb natural acidity and flavor maturity in a finished wine that is below 14% alcohol. And then came the rain. It was pouring hard when we loaded the sealed bins on our trailer for the drive home. The fruit wasn’t picked in the rain, though. The folks at Elk Cove took great care of us and picked before the big rain and then stored the fruit overnight for us in a refrigerated truck.

I am thinking rain songs are very appropriate for this wine, a common theme with our Oregon wines. So of course I have to recommend The Rain Song and Fool in the Rain, both by Led Zeppelin, Who’ll Stop the Rain by Creedence Clearwater, Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and Here Comes the Rain Again by the Eurythmics. There are so many great rain songs to finish the set, and I would recommend Blame it on the Rain by Milli Vanilli, and No Rain by Blind Lemon. Yep, I really did recommend those!