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. Louise Vineyard may be the finest representation of this unique vintage as it is composed of the first and last estate Pinot Noir to be harvested in 2013.
Like many cooler vintages, our winemaker made the deliberate decision to use less whole clusters in 2013, resulting in spicy aromatics without overpowering the wine with tannin. The 2013 Louise Vineyard is a thirty-six barrel blend of some of the favorite lots from the vineyard and offers great complexity of flavor with a balanced structure.
ACCOLADES:
94 pts– 2013 Louise Vineyard Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills
“Deep red. Hugely aromatic bouquet evokes ripe red fruits, incense and Asian spices, along with a bright mineral overtone. Juicy an precise on the palate, offering sweet raspberry preserve, rose pastille and spicecake flavors that deepen and spread out with air. Delivers a suave blend of power and elegance, finishing with harmonious tannins and remarkable clarity and length. Drinking window: 2019-2025.“
Antonia Galloni, Vinous
