2021 "Richard's Cuvée", Whistling Ridge Chardonnay - sold out

The magic of the 2021 vintage really can't be overstated, this is a fabulous, tightly coiled, laser focused expression of the vineyard. Fresh hay, meyer lemon, lime leaf, almond, flowers and seashell. Expansive in the nose with an almost tranquil nature that reverses course in the palate to vibrant citrus, stony notes, intense and compact now, finely chiseled with noticeable youthful astringency and bright acidity.

2022 Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir    $50

Classic Whistling Ridge. Generous aromatically, with notes of rose petals, velvet, potpourri, strawberry, red cherry, pie spice, leather, and orange peel. The palate is bright red fruits, alpine strawberry, black cherry, more leather, with juicy acidity, darkening a bit as it opens and gaining depth. While the tannins are there, they are extraordinarily fine in this vintage, and the wine and should have an excellent window for drinking early, as well as cellaring in good fashion.

2022 Long Acre, Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir - sold out

Weighty, perfumed and aromatically layered, with dark red fruits, autumn leaves, potpourri, cardamom, ginger, exotic savory spices and old barn wood. Violets, red currents, iris, alpine strawberries, fine but persistent tannins, and a juicy finish.. Very red fruited when first opened and deepening into darker red and red-black fruits: marionberry/boysenberry as it opens but still with fine, dusty black tannins and warm sweet spices.

2022 Heritage No.21, Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir - $75

Beautiful and aromatically expressive in the nose, with room to continue developing. Deep red and blue fruits, roses, peonies, cardamom, dark earth, a hint of coffee and a wonderful savory edge. Silky and currently more delicate on opening in the palate, with lovely light red and blue fruits, strawberry, currant, and cranberry, a hint of underbrush and earth with lovely acidity. It opens over several hours and into the next day. Intensely fragrant, with deeper red fruits and amaro, dried orange peel, thyme, more loamy earth, mineral, strawberries, raspberry and raspberry leaf, lilac, fennel pastilles, holiday spices and more yellow roses. It's so aromatically expressive for so young a wine. I must remind everyone that at very high levels of whole cluster the fruit is tied up by the stems, the amount of body this will gain in the coming years will give it the depth in the palate to match the aromatics.

2022 Pumphouse Block Pinot Noir $60

Warm and inviting with red apple skin, dried ginger spice, red flowers, summer herbs and ripe strawberry. Aromatically harmonious and expressive with pipe tobacco, pastilles, red fruits, small plums, pastilles, and a savory note under the rest. On the other side of the hill from the West Field, the Pumphouse Block faces east with a SE aspect, catching the first rays of the morning sun. From the second round of plantings at Temperance Hill, in the early 90s, the vines are the first of the old vines to bud out in the spring, and are somewhat less wind affected than the other two blocks that we source from, producing an elegant, typically more red fruited and mineral expression of Temperance Hill.

2022 West Field Pinot Noir $60

Supple and entrancing, with deep black and red fruits, a hint of caramel and high notes of camphor, anise flower, cedar, iris, sandalwood, and savory herbs. Earth notes, graphite, and spice. On the palate juicy and bright, with pretty purple flowers and boysenberry. Bound up now, but everything in the right place. The West Field is a steep (west facing) block and one of the first planted at Temperance Hill (now with both original, own-rooted vines, and interplanted young vines replacing those lost to phylloxera.) Vines are trained in the old single high-wire trellising, exposed to the sun and the intense wind hitting the hill throughout the growing season. 

2022 Heritage No.20, Temperance Hill Pinot Noir $75

Elegant, fragrant with dark red/black fruits, and floral notes. Blackberry, lavender, mint, fennel pollen, violets, pipe tobacco, orange peel and baking spices. Red fruited and juicy in the palate, with wild herbs, currents, and citrus. As it opens, black cherry, rich red fruit, and cedar wood. Smooth and rich but with grace. Comprised of one puncheon each from the West Field and Pumphouse Blocks. From Eric Guido's recent Oregon Report in Vinous: "Rosy florals give way to crushed blackberries and sweet lavender as the 2022 Pinot Noir Heritage No. 20 Temperance Hill slowly evolves in the glass. This sweeps across the palate with herbal-tinged wild berry fruits, offset by a saturation of sour citrus as a cascade of inner florals amasses toward the close. The 2022 finishes structured and long, geared for the cellar, with crisp mineral tones that resonate. This is fantastic, yet patience will be required. 95 points."

2021 Tsai Vineyard Chardonnay $50

The 2021 Tsai Vineyard Chardonnay is yellow fruited, floral, with pear, apple skin, cream, pie crust and a minty hint of bright herb. Medium full on the palate but fresh, with lovely acidity through the back end and finish. The vineyard is located in hills behind Gaston, in the north-west corner of the Yamhill- Carlton AVA, with deeper, Jory, volcanic soils and a south facing aspect. Chardonnay was planted here in 2001 and the vines have the maturity to produce fruit with layering and depth.

2022 Durant Vineyard Pinot Noir - $50

Layered, elegant, with coffee and earth underlying boysenberry/black cherry fruit, violets, and yet loaded with finesse. The depth of the Dundee hills volcanic soils shows through, as does the vine age (25 years old now, we've worked with these vines since they were 12!) These vines sit halfway up the slope and face east into the morning sun. As they've aged they are slowly losing vigor and naturally finding a balance for the canopy, the layering gains depth while alcohols have become more modest. In five 500L puncheons, the quality was so consistent that we opted to forego a Heritage bottling from Durant this year and focus on maximizing quality in the vineyard designate.

2021 Heritage No.17, Durant Vineyard Pinot Noir $75

Deeper red hues and spice on the nose, black cherry, boysenberry, violets, cardamom, balsam, enveloping and textural with juicy, lovely acidity, firm tannins on opening that integrate over several days as the weight and texture of the wine fills in. Aromatically, the high point seems to really arrive after being open for about 48 hours, and the seamless interplay between fruit, baking spice, loamy earth, and hints of kitchen herbs is dramatic and superlative. In the zone the nose here is absolutely intoxicating.