Cristom Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 Red Wine

Cristom Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016

Willamette Valley, OR

Many French winemakers from Burgundy have been coming to the Willamette Valley to make wine recently. Why? Because of the potential to make INCREDIBLE Pinot Noirs like this! The critics got this one right - it really deserves the accolades!

95+ pts. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "Medium ruby colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard is a touch reticent on the nose, opening to broody scents of black cherries and licorice with notes of herbs, Bergamot and grated baking spice with earthy touches of soil and wet leaves. Medium to full-bodied and wonderfully silky in the mouth, it's packed with layers of ripe fruit, spice and earth. It gives fine, firm tannins and mouthwatering acidity, finishing very long and very layered. This is wonderfully complex with loads of layers—give it some time in bottle to show its best."

94 pts. James Suckling: "There’s a sense of resolve from the get-go here with very pure red and darker cherries making a youthful impression. The palate has a succulent and finely detailed array of well-judged tannins that frame the finish very neatly. Good depth and detail here. Drink or hold."

93 pts. International Wine Report:  "... Although the vineyard is the most challenging for Cristom to farm, the results are sensational, as this Pinot Noir is a total beauty. It instantly begins to impress as it shows off a beautiful aromatic range, from blood oranges to cranberries and pomegranate to peat moss which  all take shape in the glass. The palate displays a wonderful combination of weight, freshness and tension, with mouth-watering acidity that adds to the enjoyment. Flavors of blood orange, red cherry cordial and blackberry pie connect with earthy undertones and linger beautifully on the pretty finish. This is a utterly captivating effort from Cristom which has a fantastic future ahead." 

FROM THE WINERY:

The Jessie Vineyard, named for winegrower-owner Tom Gerrie’s great-grandmother Jessie Summers, was established in 1994 after the Gerrie family saw great potential in planting a steep, east-facing hillside to a variety of Pinot Noir clones. Ranging in elevation from 320 ft to 550 ft (98 m to 168 m), this 11.53 acre (4.67 hectare) site is one of the steepest in Oregon, and the most challenging to farm on the Cristom Estate. Jessie is strategically planted at a high density of 2,311 vines per acre (5,710 vines/hectare), based on the philosophy that dense planting creates competition amongst neighboring vines, forcing roots deeper into the topsoil to yield smaller clusters with more concentrated flavors.

WINEMAKING:

49% whole clusters of hand-harvested and hand-sorted fruit

100% native yeast fermentations

1-3 punch-downs daily in 1-5 ton open-top fermenters

Gently pressed in a pneumatic bladder press and moved to barrel by gravity

Undergoes a full malolactic fermentation in barrel

Fined with egg whites, unfiltered

COOPERAGE 18 months in French oak, 62% new

ALC 13.7%

TA 6.9 g/L

pH 3.78

CLONES Dijon (113, 114, 115, 667, 777) & Pommard

BOTTLED April 27, 2018

PRODUCTION 903 cases