Pinot Noir Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc Chardonnay Sparkling Wines Order

2009 Pinot Noir, Zenith Vineyard Release Date: 5/28/11 Retail Price: $36.00 Availability: 557 cs. Production Notes Zenith, our estate vineyard, is centrally located in the Eola-Amity Hill AVA eleven miles northwest of Salem, Oregon. The grapes come from two older blocks planted with the 667 and 777 clones on a SW facing hillside and a younger block facing SE. Both blocks lie on well-drained silty loam at an average elevation of 280'. The destemmed grapes were fermented in small tanks after a two day cold soak. The wine aged for 16 months in 30% new French oak barrels and was bottled by gravity without fining. Crop Level: 2.6 tons/acre Harvest: 10/9/09 Bottled: February 2011 This Pinot noir complements a wide variety of foods and is especially good with sweet meat entrees - grilled salmon, lamb chops, and filet. When served young, this wine is best if allowed to breathe for 1-2 hours. It is drinkable at release or will benefit from aging up to 8 years. Winemaker Notes St. Innocent began producing wines from this site in 1989 when it was known as O'Connor Vineyard. We produced vineyard designated O'Connor Pinot noir for ten years, ending in 1998 when the vineyard was leased to Willamette Valley Vineyards. One of our customers, Tim and Kari Ramey purchased the vineyard in 2002. In early 2006, St. Innocent purchased a membership interest in the LLC and Zenith Vineyard, LLC and St. Innocent agreed to build a joint building. One part of the new facility would be an Event Center owned by Zenith and managed by Kari Ramey. The other part would be a new winery owned and operated by St. Innocent Winery. The winery portion was completed just in time for the 2007 harvest. The Event Center began operation in March 2008. Zenith has been in the process of re-planting post-phylloxera. A total of 13.5 acres of Pinot noir has been planted for St. Innocent, with five acres currently in full production. The remaining acres began producing in 2009 (used in our Villages Cuvée) and will achieve maturity in 2012. 2009 was an unusual vintage. Normally, the fruit grown in the northern Willamette Valley is fairly uniform in character over the 40 or so miles from the north end in the Chehalem Mountain AVA to the area just south of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. This was not true in 2009. The northern AVA's (Yamhill-Carlton, Dundee, and Ribbon Ridge) experienced significant cluster dehydration and lower acidity yielding intense and very fruit-dominated wines. AVA's to the south (McMinnville and Eola-Amity Hills) harvested 7-10 days later, had no significant dehydration and normal acidities, producing exceptionally balanced wines. Tasting Notes Our Estate wine, the 2009 Zenith Vineyard Pinot noir, has a big nose of red raspberries with smoke, cedar, and dark ground spice notes. In the mouth, layers of red and dark red fruit dominate the palate with roasted spices, dark flowers and forest floor flavors underneath. This is a richly layered wine with complex flavors and medium weight tannins. Its multidimensional components will evolve over a decade. This wine reminds me of the old O'Connor Vineyard Pinots I made a long time ago. Mark Vlossak, winemaker Back to top of page