|
|
|
 |
2008 Pinot Noir, Momtazi Vineyard, special selection
Release Date: 9/2010 Futures Price: $ 360 per 6 bottles Production Notes: The grapes were fermented in a Burgundy oak fermenter after two days of cold maceration. The wine aged French oak barrels for 16 months before bottling. The Special Selection was selected from the four best barrels. This unique cuvée represents the most rigorous selection of grapes and wines in each vintage. A maximum of 98 cases are produced and this wine is available for sale only as a future. This Pinot noir complements rich stews, roasts, cheeses and grilled meats. When served young, this wine is best opened 1-2 hours before serving . It is drinkable at release and will benefit from aging up to 9 years.
|
|
|
|
Winemaker Notes
In the past, we offered Pinot noir futures to ensure that our out-of-state customers could purchase small production wines before they sold out. In 1999 we began offering another type of future, a unique bottling of a small number of the best barrels from the vintage's best lots of Pinot noir. Two to four barrels are selected from the 30 or so barrels of one single vineyard offering and bottled as a special cuvées. These cuvées are sold only at the winery as futures. They represent the best wine of the vintage and are always age worthy.
In 2002, we purchased our first French oak, Burgundy style fermenters. In my Harvest Report, I described the fermentation aromas in the wood tank as the best I have ever smelled. I am convinced that grapes fermented in wooden Burgundy fermenters capture more of the nuances of Pinot noir and produce more complex wines. The Special Selection now always come from lots fermented in these French oak fermenters.
2008 was as close to a perfect vintage as Oregon can produce. Although bloom was very late, later than in any vintage over the past 25 years, the weather throughout the growing season was perfectly balanced. Just enough sun, just enough rain, not too cold, and not too hot. The fall was sunny and cool. These are perfect conditions to provide healthy fruit with complex flavors and a good backbone of acidity. A winemaker can ask for nothing more. At that point it is up to us to make the wine Mother Nature provided.
In 2006 I approached Moe Momtazi and asked if St. Innocent could contract for Pinot noir fruit from his bio-dynamically farmed vineyard. From my first trip to France in 1998, I observed that the greatest domaines in both Burgundy and Alsace had one thing in common, they farmed bio-dynamically.
Bio-dynamics is an integrated system of farming that incorporates and encourages diversity in the entire ecosystem, from the roots and soil, through the macro-climate of the vine. A step beyond organic farming, this system was developed by Rudolph Steiner. The end result is a greater sense of the terroir of the site.
Momtazi Vineyard is in the McMinnville appellation, located high above a warm valley and affected by strong coastal winds in the late afternoon. It is at once a sunny, roasted hillside providing exceptional ripeness and a windblown ridge of thin soil that challenges the vines ability to survive. The wines produced reveal this dichotomy, being densely fruited and rustic at the same time. All of the wines produced from this AVA have darker fruit, richer tannins, and are more intensity on the palate.
Tasting Notes
The ability of Momtazi Pinot noir to express the unique place it comes from is unusual. This dark ruby-red wine is unusually dense aromatically with broad savory and complex fruit aromas. Blackberry, cassis, and wild strawberry fruits intermix with roasted Asian and Indian spices and a bright edge of peppermint. Lush flavors of sweet dark fruit, a broad spectrum of spice, sweet roasted vegetables, and Herbes de Provence layer over its core of stones and earth. At its essence, the 2008 Momtazi is the wine you want to open on a cold winter night in front of a warm fire accompanied by a bowl of cassoulet.
Futures are offered beginning Thanksgiving weekend. A maximum of 98 cases are available for sale. Sold in six bottle lots, the finished wine will be available for pick-up (or shipped) in September 2009.