A Blooming Hill Vineyard
2008 Pinot Noir

Superbly fruit forward flavor and gorgeous garnet color, a smooth sensation and long finish.

Our vineyard is on a southeast-facing slope in the last hills of the Chehalem Mountain range. Each vine is nestled in a windblown Loess soil anchored to this basalt range with depths of six to twelve feet. This rich soil produces grapes lavish in the tastes of the earth and its surrounding micro- climate. Each vine was coaxed by hand to produce full, compact clusters. In this unusual microclimate the 480 foot elevation is protected by higher hills on three sides from any coastal storms or harsh weather changes. The sun warms the grapes through the day, producing the sugars and flavors into the peak of the afternoon. The grapes are then cooled by the late afternoon and evening ocean breezes that fan down the Columbia River, skirting the coastal range into this, the northern Willamette Valley. This daily cycle is repeated from late summer through early fall until the grapes are picked at their peak of ripeness. The vines, trained to a Henry trellis, achieved a critical balance of vine growth to berry growth. The bunches ripened in their time – slowly – to achieve the utmost flavors this unusual microclimate can create.

Jim tended each vine by hand from first pruning in January. Each grape cluster was scrutinized and selected in the vineyard from veraison through the hand picking process. Only the best clusters are destined for the fermenting tanks and their week to ten-day cold-soak sojourn. Once cold soaking achieved maximum color extraction, fermentation was started to transform the sugars into alcohol. When completed, less than a week later, the juices were moved into oak barrels to begin a secondary fermentation and aging process. We used 30% new Oak barrels to achieve an understated balance of oak to fruit taste that gave us our complex and superb fruit-forward taste. Over the next year, the wine was monitored, naturally fined, the barrels were topped weekly and the wine was racked off the lees and finings. The Pinot Noir was then cold stabilized and left to rest and age.

This is an ageless wine you can drink right now or savor in years to come.

275 cases produced