select vintage

2018
Pinot Noir
Josh's Notes
Being able to return to the Willamette Valley to make Pinot Noir, something I was involved in since 2011, was absolutely a thrill. And to pull fruit from a vineyard block I used to work with, that was planted in 1983, in the smallest appellation in Oregon for our inaugural release? Even better. Yet, no matter the pedigree, we knew the wine had to be not just good but truly great. We even made wine from this block in 2017 to prove that out and sold it under a different label. With a fantastic vintage like 2018, we were very pleased. This wine leads with black tea, cranberry, forest floor, and a hint of pencil shavings in the background. I love how much natural acidity is in this wine yet still has great richness with chewy and balanced tannins. We made only a miniscule amount of this wine so please act fast. Drew, myself, and our entire team couldn’t be more thrilled to release our inaugural vintage of Bledsoe—McDaniels Pinot Noir—our first venture outside of our hometown! If you can’t wait to open, I recommend serving at cellar temperature and decant for an hour.
- Appellation
- Willamette Valley; Ribbon Ridge AVA
- Vineyard Source
- Ridgecrest
- Wind Ridge
- Blending Profile
- 100% Pinot Noir
- Barrel/Aging Program
- 17 months in 65% new French oak and 35% neutral French oak barrels, aged sur lie. 50% whole cluster.
- Production
- Bottling Date: February 2020
- Release Date: October 2020
- Alcohol: 13.5%
- Cases Produced: 187
- Cellaring Recommendation
- Decant for an hour and consume now or age up to 15-20 years
Great streak of acid, balanced out richness, ultra fine grained tannins, chewy tannin, good oak, plum