About
Our 2018 letter to Wiseacre members:
2017 Vintage Notes
The 2017 vintage was very different from the several preceding vintages, and began much more like a “normal” Willamette vintage, whatever that is. We had a cool and wet spring which created conditions for a normal budbreak and a bloom happened in June, setting the stage for a September and October harvest. The vines set a historically huge crop load as bloom happened under ideal conditions. As such, a lot of effort went into dropping an unprecedented amount of fruit during thinning in the vineyard. Once the vines were brought to proper balance, the flavors came on slowly with great freshness and ideal phenolic maturity.
We got started on Pinot Noir in the final part of September and were delighted to see balanced sugars and acids with great structure and freshness. The weather in late September and into October was ideal, with cool nights and sunny pleasant days. The wines are complex and rich with the kind of tannic tension we love.
For the second year now, Filament Estate joins Terrarossa Vineyard as our second estate site. We have been working with the vineyard for a few years as a client site. It is owned by a client that we were making the wines for since 2012. When the couple that own the vineyard decided they wanted to step back from brand ownership, they offered up the vineyard for lease and I jumped at the chance back in 2015. It is a 2.4 acre site that was planted in the early 2000’s to a mixed selection of Pinot clones on the eastern side of the Eola Hills, at the top of Walnut Hill. In a testament to the owners’ vision, they planted at a density that was very uncommon at the time, 1 meter by 2 meters spacing. Nekia and Gelderman volcanic soils and a cool and windy microclimate coupled with the diversity of the Pinot selections yield a wine of great complexity and length. In 2017, we made a three barrel cuvee from Filament. We’re going to be selling fruit from the vineyard to two exciting new projects that are being launched by two of Drew’s closest winemaker friends who are industry veterans and are about to launch brands of their own, so you will be hearing a lot more from this tiny vineyard in the near future. Come and visit us this winter or spring to taste the 2018 wine and learn about this new inquiry into terroir.
Also, for the second year, now, we are delighted to produce a wine from Bramble Hill Vineyard on Ribbon Ridge. It is adjacent to Beaux Freres Upper Terrace and the new Sequitur Vineyard and a site with tremendous potential. This warm and windy site on a perfect south slope is on well drained marine sedimentary soils and the wines are an ideal expression of why Ribbon Ridge is one of the most coveted and revered AVA’s in the Willamette Valley. As expected, we’re producing a wine from this site that is all about richness and dark fruit intensity that the Ridge is known for. We get two small blocks of Dijon 115 and Pommard from the site and co ferment the two with a generous amount of whole clusters, which brings additional structure and tension to the wine.
As always, we recommend cellaring these wines as they are only recently bottled. We encourage you to wait until spring to try them and decide which ones you’d like to reorder before they are gone. Now onto the wines.
2017 Harper Voit Strandline Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley $40, 480 cases produced
As always, the Strandline cuvee is our blend across the whole range of soil types that comprise the terroir of the Willamette Valley. Now comprised of seven vineyards and nine different clones, this reflects the overall character of the vintage and shows the complexity that a small production but broadly sourced blend can deliver.
2017 Harper Voit Filament Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills $65, 70 cases produced
In its second vintage as a single vineyard, estate bottled wine for Harper Voit, as we farm it ourselves We are excited about the potential of this Eola-Amity site, which is a mixed clone planting. As a result, the wine is the true expression of a single pick date and the complexity that results from diversity in the fruit profile. We actually do almost no analysis on the fruit from this vineyard and Drew calls the picks and vineyard decisions based almost entirely on direct observations and flavors, embracing the diversity found at the site. The wine shows the classic spicy profile we expect from Eola-Amity volcanic vineyard sites and adds to it a slightly earthy, almost truffle-like aromatic note
2017 Harper Voit Bramble Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge, $65,47 cases produced
Also, the second time we’ve designated from a newer site to us, our 2017 Bramble Hill Vineyard bottling shows the true potential of the western side of the Ribbon Ridge AVA. Windy and warm, and planted on a perfect south slope on marine sediment soils, the resulting wine is dark, brooding, and complex with tremendous length and intensity. It is a co ferment of 115 and Pommard with a about 30% whole cluster fermentation. Just two barrels produced.
2017 Harper Voit Bieze Vineyard Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills $65,130 cases produced
Always one of our core vineyard sites again this blend of two heirloom selections of Pinot is built around the uncommon Calera selection, low yielding and elegant. Spice tones and savory notes dominate in this wine which has become a consumer favorite for its incredibly distinctive profile. 40% whole cluster fermentation further drive the spice and earth tones. The vineyard is adjacent to our winemaking facility and perched directly above the justly famous Seven Springs Vineyard. We’ve been lucky to work with the fruit from these blocks since the vineyard first came on line in the 2011 vintage.
2017 Harper Voit Antiquum Vineyard Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley$65, 130 cases produced
Antiquum Vineyard is our longest standing partner and was the first contract that was signed when Harper Voit wines launched in 2009. Once again, this site, farmed with sheep, chickens, and draft horses working the vineyard, yield the most distinctively different wine in our lineup. Incredibly dark color, coupled with intense acidity and flavor profiles that defy description are the result from this vineyard located in the Southern Willamette Valley, high up in the Coast Range.
2017 Harper Voit Terrarossa Vineyard Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills $65 120 Cases Produced
Once a newbie in the Harper Voit lineup, now in its fourth vintage as one of our estate sites, the ’17 Terrarossa is our three-clone blend from this tiny site that we took over the lease for a few years back. A return to making single vineyard Pinot from the Dundee Hills since Drew’s days at Domaine Serene, this wine shows the elegant red fruit and floral tone that makes the Dundee Hills memorable, coupled with the structure and intensity of judicious use of whole cluster fermentation. As with virtually all of our sites, high elevation sites and high-risk winemaking yield memorable wines in these warm growing seasons.
2017 Harper Voit “Wiseacre Selection” Antiquum Vineyard, Wadenswil Clone, Willamette Valley $65 22 Cases Produced
Early on in 2018, as we were barrel tasting the 2017’s, a single barrel of the Wadenswil clone block at Antiquum stood out for its distinctive profile. We have long sourced three different adjacent blocks from Antiquum, and made a single wine from a blend of barrels from all three. The Wadenswil has always been the most tense, nervy, and distinctive block from the property, and we decided to show it off on its own this year for Wiseacre members only. Those of you that have tasted with us at the winery have often barrel tasted from this block. For those of you that remember when the vineyard was once called Old School Vineyard, and has each block named after an old school rapper, this is the Rakim block. The vineyard name has changed but the Rakim block is still one of our most interesting and distinctive wines.