2015 Ancient Waters Pinot Noir
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 old 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.
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 at the 80’s with clear blue skies. Virtually no precipitation occurred all summer long. On August 28-30th we received a refreshing 1.3 inches of rain, which perked up the vines, the acid bounced back and fruit flavors became lively once again. We were able to pick at optimum ripeness beginning around September 4th through September 23rd.
WINEMAKING PROCESS
ROCO Pinot Noir is handpicked and then chilled overnight to 38°F in our large cold room. The chilled bunches are gently de-stalked and the whole berries fall into small 1.6 ton open fermenters. 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 skins and fermenting juices. Ferments are allowed to reach about 28°C. 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 then sent to barrel for malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity and to add further complexity, then racked once to new, one, two and three-year-old, tight-grained, French oak barrels. The wines are aged in barrel for 18 or more months before bottling.
WINEMAKER’S TASTING NOTES
“Lip smacking fruit, with a powerful front splash 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
94 James Suckling
92 Wine Advocate