By focusing solely on Pinot Noir from the most prestigious vineyard sites in California and Oregon, and by vinifying each barrel separately by lot, clone, yeast and cooper, we champion individuality of place and intensity of flavor in each wine we produce.
PRODUCTION: 166 Cases
RELEASE DATE: November 2007
Winemakers' Notes
We source our grapes from the far northern end of the Willamette Valley (in the newly recognized Chehalem Mountains Appellation)
and this region tends to produce rather lean wines. The richness of the 2006 vintage
combined with this area’s natural tautness produced our favorite Oregon Pinot Noirs ever.
The Beran Vineyards is a newcomer to us, but hardly new in the wine world. We have enjoyed
Bill and Sharon’s own wines for quite a few years so when the opportunity came up
to get a small amount of fruit from the oldest section of the vineyard (planted in 1972) we
certainly couldn’t turn it down.
One of the keys to our success with this wine was to saignee 10% of the juice off prior to
the beginning of fermentation. This amount helped concentrate the wine but didn’t push it
so far as to be overextracted. The 115 clone was entirely destemmed but we did utilize
some whole cluster fermentation on the old Pommard. We also were selective in which
barrels made the cut for this wine with 7 out of 16 making it into the final blend.
The key to the Beran Vineyard Pinot Noir is texture. The wines from this vineyard show a
mouthfeel and texture that reminds a taster of velvet. Wonderfully bright vibrant raspberry
fruit, touch of dried herbs and earth and the beginnings of a creamy texture emerge until
the wine begins to tighten up just a touch on the finish. Certainly drinkable now, this wine
shows even better with an hour in a decanter, and should age well for at least 3 years.
- Adam & Dianna Lee
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