• Flavors and aromas of violet, espresso, plum and sage.
• Pairs well with salmon, stuffed mushrooms, lamb, duck and wild game.
• 90 from Wine Advocate

The 2009 growing season began with snow in February, then snow again accompanied by a day of graupel (hail-like precipitation occurring when supercooled water droplets freeze on a falling snowflake) and cold, biting wind in March.  We had a couple of days close to 80 degrees in early-April, then more cold and hail, then back to a few days over 80 degrees in mid-April.  May was warm, beautiful, and uneventful, but June brought some wild weather.  On June 4 we had an actual tornado blow through (very unusual for Oregon), and we all hunkered down nervously in the winery cellar.  Then it turned cool again and we had a torrential downpour (almost an inch in 24 hours) on June 12.  July was all about heat - we had a few days very hot days (upper 90s to 100 degrees) early, mid, and late in the month, with the final days of July hitting up to 108 degrees.  It finally cooled off in early August and we had our first bit of rain in over a month, but then we had more heat mid-month.  September brought continued hot weather and when the drying, desiccating east wind kicked in on September 20 we began picking as fast as we could.  We brought in all 175 tons of our Pinot Noir in just eight days under mostly hot and hazy skies, but we managed to avoid overly high sugars and raisining in the grapes, and the acid levels were good.  Overall, another challenging yet rewarding Oregon vintage.