2022 Volcanic Pinot Noir

92 Points, Jeb Dunnuck

Soil Series Wine History: In 2005 we began bottling a small amount of wine taken from a few barrels of the several vineyards we had planted in Volcanic (Jory) soil in the Dundee Hills. At the time we were receiving fruit from Balcombe, Eason, Weber and Goldschmidt Vineyards and wanted to show a singular wine coming just from these sites. Over time we have added vineyards like Durant, Arcus and Anderson Family Vineyards (while losing Eason and Goldschmidt) and began producing larger quantities of the wine so that we could show this to a larger audience than the people that showed up for Open House Weekends. As we grew the number of bottlings of Pinot Noir and the volume of many of those wines, it made sense to increase the production of our two Soil Series bottlings. At routinely over 30 bottlings of Pinot Noir that are nearly entirely composed of Volcanic or Marine soils these wines serve the purpose of, aside from being excellent in their own right, showing the root base of all the wines we make that spring from these two general soil classifications.

Site Characteristics: The Dundee Hills are located in a largely south-facing somewhat circular pattern about 40 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Protected from coastal winds and from weather coming out of the North, the Dundee Hills are surprisingly warm in relation to adjacent areas during the summer and early fall. These hills are result of the Pacific Rim’s “Ring of Fire” and the soil is a lava based soil containing silt, loam and clay. The result is a dense, ultra-rich soil that with even minimal oversight supports healthy vegetative growth. In the hands of professional vineyard managers, the soil allows vineyards to flourish and the fruit to take on the richness the land has to offer.
As much as possible we here at Patricia Green Cellars view our wines not only individually, but within the context of the continuum in which they exist here at the winery. This wine is an important component as it defines the root example of our Dundee vineyards (Anderson Family, Balcombe, Durant, Weber and, of course, our Mysterious Vineyard) planted in volcanic (Jory) soil. This bottling combines barrels from each of these sites to show how the soil in which our plants are grown impacts the way the plant grows and ripens fruit, and how that ripe fruit develops into the final product. From the Dundee Hills one should expect sweetness of fruit in the mid-palate combined with a variety of spices common to Pinot Noir. Perhaps most importantly, the wines from this region have a remarkable texture: silky with satin-y tannins that allow the fruit to linger. This bottling is a true representation of volcanic soils that demonstrates all of these elements in spades and is the baseline for all our Dundee Hill bottlings.
Vineyards: We receive fruit from 6 different Dundee Hills AVA vineyards. We selected barrels from 5 of them. Two different clones spread across 5 vineyards with vine age ranging from 23 years to 50 years. This is a wide-ranging wine within a tight geographical and geological area.
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Balcombe Vineyard: 1 barrel of Pommard (1990)
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Durant Vineyard: 7 barrels Bishop Block Pommard (1973) and 3 barrels Madrone Block Dijon 115 (2000)
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Anderson Family Vineyard: 3 barrels Dijon 115 (1992)
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Arcus Vineyard: 2 barrels Pommard (1990)
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Weber Vineyard: 16 barrels Pommard (1983)
Farming Practices: All of these vineyards are either organically farmed, in the latter stages of transitioning from standard farming to organic farming or transitioning from organic farming to biodynamic farming. All Patricia Green Cellars sites are dry farmed.

Picking Dates, Tonnages, Tons/Acre: Showing the diversity that even this small area can have (all of these sites are within 4 miles of each other) the picking dates range from as early as October 7th to as late as October 20th (the second to last day we picked Pinot Noir in 2022). Tonnages were generally abundant with a top end of around 3.3 tons/acre for Weber Vineyard to a low of 1.6 tons for Anderson Family Vineyard.
Vinification: Multiple different approaches:
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Destemmed: Anderson Family, Arcus and Durant Madrone Block
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50% Whole Cluster: Balcombe, Durant Bishop Block and Weber
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100% Whole Cluster: Weber
Winemaking: Fermentations were managed by a combination of pumpovers early in the process and exclusively prior to fermentation beginning as well as pigeages to ensure gentle handling, extraction and delicate tannin construction. Cold soaks were generally 3-5. Full fermentation from beginning to pressing was 16-20 day. 48-72 hour settling prior to being racked to barrel. All wines on full lees until assemblage for bottling. Bottled without fining or filtration.

Barrels: This 32-barrel bottling consists entirely of neutral barrels.

Notes: Over the years this wine has seen a distinct evolution. Part of it is the inclusion of a greater number of vineyards and blocks which, certainly at a very fundamental level, would obviously create a different nature for the finished wine. However, the real changes are far more important. The vine age we have accumulated in this AVA is significant. Only 3 barrels in the blend are not at least 30 years in vine age and over 70% of the volume comes from barrels that are 40-50 years in vine age. In addition, the quality of farming in Oregon, specifically in the Dundee Hills, has increased dramatically over the past 15 years. Nothing could be better for a winery than to have excellent, unique sites that are well farmed and that have significant vine age to them. This wine definitely reflects the entire eco-system place-ness that the Jory soil in the Dundee Hills famously brings to wines. The 2022 vintage’s surprising brightness and high-toned nature meshes nicely with this wine’s inherent nature to be lushly fruited, silky in texture and delicious from the get go. There is a lot of history here, both of vineyards and geology.