2006 Pinot Noir
Willamette Valley

TASTING NOTES
This wine exhibits a dark garnet color and aromas of cherry, clove, and leather. On the palate the wine is supple and round with integrated flavors of berry and cinnamon spice, framed by subtle notes of vanilla and smoky oak. The wine possesses mouthwatering acidity with spice and berry in the lingering finish.

VINIFICATION
The Pommard clone of Pinot Noir is dominant in this wine comprising 92% of the blend, the balance is the Wadenswil clone. After 100% destemming, approximately 80% of berries were crushed. This is our second vintage for us of a new winemaking style. The must was moved to an open top ferment which releases CO2 faster to aireate the wine to enhance fermentation. The wine was left to cold soak for 1 week before fermentation to extract flavors from the skins, this brings out the fruity characters of the grape. After 1 week in the tanks the yeast was then added to begin fermentation. Two different styles of yeast were used, 60% fermirouge, which creates more body in the wine and 40% Ruby which intensifies the fruit flavors. Each vineyard lot was separately pressed, settled, then racked into small French Oak cooperage. These subtle changes that our winemaker has made are to create a more approachable wine at an earlier age and decrease the hard tannin that our earlier vintages had, which can take years in the bottle to mellow. The winery relies primarily on Tonnellerie Remond and Francois Freres for its Pinot Noir barrels. These Burgundian coopers, along with Saury and Sansaud, are utilized to provide the winery with predominately medium-toast barrels from the Nevers, Allier, Borgogne, and Vosges forests. After eighteen months in barrel, the vineyard lots were racked and individually tasted. After blending three individual vineyard lots together, the finished wine was bottled unfined.

WINEMAKER NOTES
Prime vineyard sites and dedicated growers are the basis of Oak Knoll.  Making wines in excellent vintages is much easier when the groundwork has been laid in the vineyard.
The 2005 growing season was a fifth consecutive year of glorious weather in the Willamette Valley.  The wines turned out in "classic" Oregon style with lovely perfumed fruit and spice aromas, almost Burgundian acidity levels, and silky tannins.

Wine of the Month:

2006 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
regularly $18.00 per bottle now $10.00/$120.00/case