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2005 Pinot Gris Reserve

(new release October 2006)

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The Wine

This is the version of Pinot Gris we make to gain ultimate complexity and structure. Using Alsace as a standard, we seek weight and richness to make this more than a simple white. This Pinot Gris is a true reserve wine—the fruit is divided at harvest, after full ripeness is achieved, with the reserve portion going through barrel fermentation in neutral oak. With long lees contact, minor partial ML (malolactic fermentation), and a variety of yeasts, the wine is concentrated, complex, well-textured, and carries tropical fruit aromas and a tight pear flavor profile, accented with a honeyed richness.

The Vineyards

Fruit comes from our three Estate Vineyards: Ridgecrest, Stoller, and Corral Creek, blended into a fully-complemented wine. The estate vineyards are planted on three different soil types, which provides complementary elements in resulting wines: Ridgecrest on Willakenzie, Stoller on Jory, and Corral Creek on Laurelwood. The interaction of clone and site add great complexity, consistency, and fullness of character to blends of Pinot Gris, especially in an excellent vintage.

The Vintage

2005 was an old-style Oregon vintage, warming the cockles of the hearts of industry old folks like me as much as the coffee we drank. Cooler and damper than the average modern vintage, mature winemakers and mature vineyards understood and adjusted to the weather, giving the grapes a chance to fully ripen and working magic to assure clean fruit. Experience should show with our three classic estate vineyards. Great extraction, great acid, lower alcohols (no Pinots above the 13%s!) — expect wines of finesse and ageability. White wines hum with the electricity of higher acids and lower alcohols.

Stats

Harvest Data:

Harvested 10/5 to 10/20/2005 from 30% Stoller, 16% Corral Creek and 52% Ridgecrest sites @ 23.1–24.2 brix, 3.18–3.37 pH, and 6.2–7.6 g/l TA, from
1.0–3.3 tons per acre cropload

Fermentation:

Fermented in neutral barrels with several yeasts (native [20%], R2, 3079, SIHA7, VL1, VL3, and 71-B)

Cooperage/Aging:

Aged for 5 months with lees stirring

Bottling:

Cold stabilized and filtered, bottled 4/7/2006

Bottling Analyses:

14.6% alcohol, 7.4 g/L TA, 3.14 pH, 0.4% residual sugar

Cases Produced:

556

Suggested Retail:

$21

Release Date:

October 2006

Winemaker's Comments

Among the best Gris reserves we’ve done, from a great white vintage. Bright straw with a slight green cast, this is a young, rich, complex wine, still showing a little preserving SO2, then showing an intriguing, hard Christmas-candy nose. On the palate it is rich and broad, crammed with bright acidic and sweet fruit, like pineapple or lemon curd. With great acid and densely packed white and yellow fruits, this is balanced almost perfectly.

Quotes

Wine Spectator, October 15, 2006, Harvey Steiman: 90. Rich and fragrant, with blanched almond character adding an interesting note to the delicate pear and honeydew flavors.

winereviewonline, September 2006, Michael Franz: 88. ...The fruit is quite rich and flavorful, with notes of ripe peach and mango, and this would be a great partner for lightly spicy dishes hefty enough to work with a medium-bodied wine.

eRobertParker.com, October 2007, Jay Miller: 88. Chehalem is unusual for Willamette Valley in that over 50% of its production is white wine from Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay. Readers who see Chehalem’s whites should try these uniformly excellent wines.

vinfolio.com, November 24, 2006, "Stock Up on a Dozen Domestic Wines Under $35 and Over 90 Points," Doug Wilder: A stunning new world example of Alsatian style Pinot Gris...The primary aromas are honeyed sweetened pineapple and grapefruit with some additional tropical influence. Excellent acidity with stone fruit freshness on the palate brings everything into a brilliantly focused balance.

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