Every year we select signature barrels that represent a single block and single clone from each of our distinct estate vineyards to showcase the best of the vintage. The 2018 vintage is one of the most well-balanced of the last five years, creating wines with excellent quality, amazing flavor and acidity, and higher than average yields.

Please join us for our Best Barrel Open House, Saturday & Sunday, Nov. 23 & 24 from 11 am-5 pm. This year we are welcoming you to our Tasting Room to preview the 2018 vintage paired with small bites courtesy of Culinary Director Becca Richards.

Because of the limited production of these wines, all Best Barrel bottlings are sold in sets of three.

Ridgecrest Vineyard Pinot Noir | $195 for 3 bottles
Corral Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir | $195 for 3 bottles
Stoller Vineyard Pinot Noir | $195 for 3 bottles
Only 24 cases of each wine will be bottled!

 

Please RSVP to Dave Rice at 503.538.4700
$30 Club & Prior Best Barrel Buyers | $40 General Admission
*Tasting fee waived with the purchase of Best Barrel wines

“This year, we are giving these wines more time in barrel to further integrate into the new oak. We are over vintaging to help showcase the true potential of these wines. We are excited to taste them with you at this stage because they have been aging for 12 months in new French Oak. These wines have finished malolactic fermentation and are quietly sleeping, slowly integrating, and becoming what they will be once bottled in a few more months.” – Katie Santora, Winemaker

 

2018 Corral Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir Best Barrel
This wine displays the classic Corral Creek magenta color with bright, transparent edges in the glass. The lightly dusty floral aroma of roses and violets leads seamlessly into rich notes of berry compote with a hint of sweet caramel. A deeply satisfying palate of integrated berry cobbler and soft, pleasantly sweet spice carries through to the moderately-long silky finish.

  • Block 9, planted in 1983
  • “Suitcase Clones” – most likely a mix of Pommard and Wädenswil
  • Tonnellerie Allary cooperage from the Vosges Forest – France
  • Medium-long toast, 36-month seasoning

2018 Stoller Vineyard Pinot Noir Best Barrel
Characteristic of the vintage, this wine is deep-medium translucent magenta with beautiful clarity. Crushed dark cherries fill the nose with a hint of sweet red licorice and hay. On the palate, the wine is rich and full, offering terrific acidy that carries dark cherry flavors through a long finish.

  • Block 32, planted in 2000
  • 777 Clone
  • Tonnellerie François Frères cooperage, a proprietary blend of forests – France
  • Medium toast, tight grain

2018 Ridgecrest Vineyard Pinot Noir Best Barrel
In the glass, this wine is a deeply intense maroon color with gorgeous violet edges.  An exuberant mélange of mixed red and blue fruit fills the glass, showing charming hints of cranberry relish and a touch of sweet oak. Structured for moderate to long-term cellaring, this year’s Best Barrel offers the firm structure, bright acid, and grippy tannins we’ve come to expect from Ridgecrest Vineyard. A long and lean finish confirms this is one for the ages.

  • Block 1.2, planted in 1982
  • Pommard clone
  • Tonnellerie Rousseau cooperage from the Châtillon Forest – Burgundy, France
  • Medium-plus toast