2015 Ancient Waters Pinot Noir 1.5L
ABOUT ANCIENT WATERS PINOT NOIR
One of our proprietary blends, Ancient Waters sources the highest quality fruit from Wapato Ridge Vineyard and the famed Shea Vineyard. Ancient Waters' name is derived from the marine sedimentary soils in which the vines are planted. Ancient Waters is a powerful wine that showcases the intense flavors possible in Pinot Noirs from the Willamette Valley.
WINEMAKING PROCESS
ROCO Pinot Noir is handpicked and then chilled overnight to 38 degrees fahrenheit in our large cold room. The chilled bunches are gently de--stalked and the whole berries fall into smal 1.6 ton open frementers. The berries soak for ten days before beginning ferment with our proprietary, house--cultured indigenous wine yeast. Soaking allows gentle extraction of color and flavor from the berry skin, and not the bitter-tasting seeds. The fermentations are hand punched twice a day to mix the skins and fermenting juices. Ferments are allowed to reach about 28 degrees celsius. A post-fermentation soak occurs until the wine is just right for removing from the skins and seeds. At that time the ferment is gently pressed in our modern tank press. The young wine is sent to barrel for malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity and to add further complexity, than racked once to mix of new and three-year-old, tight-grained, French oak barrels. The wines are aged in barrel for 18 or more months before bottling.
2015 VINTAGE NOTES
This growing season was one of those warm, sunny experiences that we all desire in the often challenging Willamette Valley. Other than a spot of high temperatures, nearly the entirety of August punched in the 80's with clear blue skies and virtually no precipitation occurred all summer long. The vines were obviously stuggling under persistent sunshine and no precipitation, but then August 28-30th brought us a refreshing 1.3 inches of rain! This rainfall perked up the vines, the acid bounced back and fruit flavors became livened once again. We received one more shot of cool rain on September 17th with freezing levels down to 5500 feet. These cloudy cool wet events at the end of the growing season helped to lift the character, and provided a nice zip of flavor. We were able to pick at optimum ripeness beginning around September 4th through September 23rd. The 2015 wines are chock full of great fruit flavor, structure and a mouthwatering dose of delicious freshness and acidity.
WINEMAKER TASTING NOTES
Lip smacking fruit, with a powerful front spalsh of plum, blueberry, and Rainier cherry. This wine rides the rail of masculine Pinot Noir, yet offers a soft teddy bear center, then jumps back onto the rich, black fruit and spice for a delightfully long finish. -Rollin Soles, Winemaker