About This Product
Tasting Notes
Estate grown Pinot Noir from ROCO’s Wits’ End Vineyard in the
Chehalem Mountains, this luscious wine is always at the top of its game.
Deep garnet color with an elegant combination of spiced cherries
jubilee in the nose. The wine is full and rich bodied in the mouth with
hints of black berries, cinnamon and pepper which contribute to a
complex palate. The deeply spiced fruit finish is rich, delightfully
long and layered. It rolls through the mouth and down the throat leaving
one longing for the next sip.
Production Notes
Early in the season the vines set an “interesting” mix of normal and
tiny berries on the clusters. This is a good thing as each size berry
ripens at a different rate -thus adding complexity of flavors to the
wine.
In July, we experienced a number of days where the evening
temperatures did not drop to their normal “chill”. Oregonians flocked to
the Pacific Oceanside and mountain rivers for relief from the warm
weather. What I didn’t expect was that this brief event would speed up
the rate that the vines matured the fruit regardless of the vineyard
elevation.
Significant amounts of cold rain fell over Labor Day Weekend.
Fortunately, the fruit was not ripe enough to become prey to mold
infections.
Then, in mid‐September we experienced a typical event where very
warm, dry air whips into the Valley from the Columbia River Gorge to the
east. This dry wind can desiccate ripe berries, causing the berries to
lose connection to the vine. At Wits End, we have a full 0me spring from
which we irrigate the vines just enough BEFORE the “furnace” comes on,
to allow the vine to withstand the drying effects of this high desert
wind.
After the east winds, the weather cooled down to normal Oregon Fall
temperatures and beautiful conditions brought rich, ripe luscious fruit
to our fermenters. The result is lovely, balanced, richly colored Pinot
Noir that is perfectly matched to pleasant mineral and tannin textures.
It will delight the drinker today and merit some serious age in the
bottle.
$70.00 / Bottle
WINE PROFILE
||FACTS
||REVIEWS
Wine Enthusiast - 93 Points
Cellar Selection - From a low-yielding estate vineyard, the Private Stash offers exceptional focus and clarity. It’s a transparent and seductive wine, bearing immaculate berry and cherry fruit, lovely balance, silky tannins and amazing length. - P.G
Wine Advocate - 92 Points
The ROCO 09 Private Stash is a bit more deeply colored, displays greater depth and concentration and has enough structure to blossom for another 1-2 years. Mouth‐filling and succulent this lengthy, pleasure‐bent effort offers a drinking window extending to 2019. - JM
Burghound.com - 90 Points, Top Pick
Here the nose is similar to that of the straight pinot but with a slightly higher-toned fruit profile as it's a bit redder. There is excellent volume to the very rich middle weight flavors that also possess fine mid-palate concentration before culminating in a mouth coating finish that delivers very good depth on the persistent and balanced finish. Worth considering. 90/2014+
