Pinot noir, Brickhouse Vineyard 1999


	1999 Pinot Noir Brickhouse Vineyard Release Date: 9/2001 Availability: 366 cases Price: $40 Production Notes Brickhouse Vineyard is located on an east-facing slope overlooking the Chehalem valley at an elevation of 440'. The bowl-shaped site, blessed with Willakenzie soil and planted in 1990 with organically certified Pinot noir grapes, is protected from the prevailing winds by the Dundee Hills. The grapes were fermented in a small tank after three days of cold maceration. The wine aged for 19 months without racking or fining in 40% new oak barrels and will not be filtered. A small amount of sediment may accumulate during the aging process and is normal for wine produced in this manner. Crop Level: 2.7 tons/acre Harvest: 10/10/99 Bottled: May 2001 This Pinot noir complements a wide variety of entrees - especially those with sauces made with berry, spice , and pepper flavors - salmon, lamb chops, game birds. The wine will benefit from aging up to 6 years.

Winemaker Notes

1999 was the latest harvest ever in Oregon. A long, cool, and incredibly dry fall allowed for a long hang time. More hang time results in more complex flavor development. This is especially obvious in the Brickhouse which is deeply colored and has layer upon layer of comples flavors.

The Brickhouse Pinot noir is only sold at the winery as a future. The crop level was back up to 2.4 tons per acre from last years 1.1, so we have a reasonable amount to sell. The futures offer ended 1/1/01.

Tasting Notes

Texture is the key word of the 1999 vintage and it applies in spades to the 1999 Brickhouse Vineyard Pinot noir. All of its usual raspberry, black raspberry, clove, and pepper components are present. But the mouth, oh what a mouth of velvety, no veloury (is this a word?) textures. Then there is a huge finish with all of the earlier flavors, but somehow transformed into something more exotic.
The ability of Brickhouse to age beautifully was emphasized in Minneapolis when I showed both the 1995 & 1996 vintages during a marketing trip. Both were awesome.

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