Antiquum Farm Juel Pinot Noir 2021 Red Wine

Antiquum Farm Juel Pinot Noir 2021

Willamette Valley, OR

17 pts. Jancis Robinson:

"This is a blend of 6 clones. They put a ton of each in a six-ton fermenter. Pale ruby in colour. On the nose this shows bright and lifted cherry. A touch spirituous on the nose. Textured with baked earth and dried leaves. Perfectly balanced flavours and acid but just a bit warm. Long finish. (SCJ) 14.3% Drink 2023 – 2029.”

This super-organic wine comes from the southern part of the Willamette Valley AVA in Oregon. No pesticides or manufactured fertilizers are used, and farm animals roam the vineyards, naturally fertilizing and nurturing the soil. The wine is wonderfully fruit-forward and bold, but it also has good acidity, which is very unusual and difficult to achieve! Topped off with a nice long finish, it's absolutely scrumptious! We’re excited to have found this Pinot, it’s very special.  – Wine Factor

FROM THE WINERY

Our 14.5-acre vineyard is one of the most unique sites for the variety in all of Oregon. At 800 feet above sea level, it sits at the very threshold of elevation for Pinot Noir in Willamette Valley. Even so, our vines display a remarkable capacity for ripening, regularly achieving maturity rarely seen elsewhere. Perhaps the most astounding feature of the site is its ability to retain abundant acidity at levels usually found in cold climate white wines. Simultaneously, the site exhibits an intensity of fruit not usually associated with Oregon Pinot Noir. The dual expression of these elements reveals a personality that is simply not supposed to exist. We truly see the best of both worlds from our vines.

The backbone of this wine is a single pick on a single day from each block of Pinot Noir, co-fermented with 25% whole cluster inclusion. Layering of subsequent destemmed picks from each block, whether co-fermented or mono-clonal, happened through blending, building the body of the wine. Primary fermentation occurred in open top vessels with daily punch downs. After the completion of alcoholic fermentation, the wine steeped on skins until a textural shift took place. The wine was then pressed and aged in French oak barrels for ten months.

We farm regeneratively without fertilizers or outside influences. Sheep, chickens, geese, and pigs graze the vineyard, nourishing the vines in a system we call grazing-based viticulture. This emphatically alive and exuberant vineyard yields intensely expressive wines of an individualistic spirit.

AVA: Willamette Valley, Oregon

VINEYARD: Antiquum Farm's Big Field

SOIL: Bellpine

VINE AGE: 22 years

CLONES: Wadensvil, Pommard, 777, 113, 115, and 66

CROP LEVEL: 3 tons/acre

HARVEST DATE: Hand-picked before sunrise on September 23-26

ALCOHOL: 14.3%

ELEVAGE: Ten months in new and used French oak

PRODUCTION: 1,100 cases