WINEMAKER’S NOTES:
Though the growing season was warm leading us to an early start to harvest, the rainstorm in late September changed the very nature of the vintage. You can speak about 2013 as two vintages in one because the wines produced from the fruit harvested before and after the rain made very different wines stylistically. Because of the warm spring and summer, the first blocks harvested before the rain produced ripe expressions of Pinot Noir with great depth of flavor and concentration. The fruit picked after the rainstorm produced more refined, elegant expressions of Pinot Noir as if grown in a cool Willamette Valley vintage.
In the glass, the 2013 Mt. Jefferson Cuvée is showing like a cool year in the Willamette Valley with bright, red-fruit aromatics, elegant, balanced tannins and persistent acidity. Even though we had a warm spring and summer, the rain impacted the season, and like many cooler vintages, our winemaker made the deliberate decision to use less whole clusters in 2013. This wine will be one the finest expressions of the vintage as it is composed of some of the earliest and latest fruit harvested in 2013. We found impressions of pomegranate and mixed berries and the youthful aromas to be complex and intriguing. It is a mid-weight wine, spicy on the palate, and has a luscious, velvety texture that is very promising.
