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Phone: 1.88.CUVEE (28833)
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Phone: 1.88.CUVEE (28833)
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© 1999 - 2012 Amalie Robert Estate, LLC |
2008 Estate Selection Pinot Noir
Every vineyard block and clone/rootstock combination showcases something unique and special from the vineyard. After fermentation is complete, the wine is placed into a selection of barrels to mature. We source French oak barrels from several coopers. The wine takes a different path to maturity in each barrel, developing its own nuances. Our use of whole clusters in each fermentation provides a continuously evolving tasting experience.
We taste all of our barrels of wine many times throughout the year. We experience the evolution of flavors and aromas and remember the significant events in our vineyard. The excitement of an early bloom, the mystery of a very light fruit set, the discovery of color change at veraison and the rapture of harvest. Tasting each barrel of wine provides us a snapshot in time. We experience the wine’s development.
It is usually during the spring when Pinot Noir in barrel begins to reveal the character of the vintage. Much like experiencing the lavender lilac bloom – you notice the color, then the hint of sweetness in the air and as time passes you are witness to the entire bloom – a testament to the season. This is when we begin blending trials for Estate.
The Vintage: The 2008 vintage is another example of “patience pays” in the vineyard. The growing season was an extended and cool vintage accumulating only 1,930 degree days, but with one of the best September ripening periods on record. September is the key month for developing flavors and aromatics in the berries.
Rainfall was typical with just a little shot of rain at the first of October. This is Mother Nature’s way of extending the growing season and to put her finishing touches on our vines. We began harvest on October 11th and concluded on October 30th with the Syrah and Viognier.
Tasting Notes: Estate Selection reveals restrained power, richness and balance from the vintage. A selection to enliven the palate and provide a lingering finish. Estate Selection is the complement to Amalie’s Cuvée.
Respectful red. Dark cherry and chocolate billow as fresh tilled earth underlies the aroma. A muscular yet exacting embrace is well developed and delineated as the accessible fruit and firm tannins colonize the palate. A precision transition introduces you to a “velvet hammer” finish.
A wine that is “broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hips,” swirling in the glass, ready to meet your lips. Unfined and unfiltered.
Suggested food pairings: Spit roasted fresh rabbit saddle wrapped in duck prosciutto, seasoned with coriander, ginger and lemon thyme. Local, seasonal greens, or carrots in hoisin sauce.
2008 Estate Selection Accolades
Jay Miller - The Wine Advocate, October 2011
The 2008 Pint Noir Estate Selection offers up greater complexity and aging potential. Lovely aromatics and good richness on the palate suggest that this impeccably balanced wine will deliver enjoyment through 2023. 92 points.
Wine & Spirits, October 2011
This juicy pinot exhibits bright strawberry scents, a dark red earth note and a hint of allspice. The flavors are assertive and brisk, the acidity pushing the wine like wind on a sail, the tannins firmly keeping the wine in line. Its tight construction suggests a long life. Cellar then serve with duck. 93 points.
Josh Raynolds - Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, July/Aug 2011
Bright red. Complex, perfumed bouquet offers an array of red fruit and floral qualities, with musky underbrush and spice notes and suave mineral lift. Sappy, deeply concentrated raspberry and cherry flavors are impressively lithe and focused, picking up candied rose and spicecake qualities with air. Fine-grained and seamless, with excellent finishing clarity and persistent spiciness. Boasts an impressive combination of depth and energy. 92 points.
Oregon Wine Awards, May 2011 – Double Gold
2007 Estate Accolades
Josh Raynolds - Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, July/Aug 2010
Vivid red. Exotically spiced red berry and cherry aromas are complicated by notes of cola, sassafras, star anise and cinnamon. Juicy, impressively precise red fruit flavors are framed by silky tannins and lifted by a zesty suggestion of blood orange. Fine-grained and lithe, leaving sweet red fruit and candied floral notes behind. This sexy wine is drinking very well today but is balanced to reward another five years of aging. 91 points.
Oregon Wine Awards, May 2010 – Double Gold
2006 Estate Accolades
Wine Advocate, October 2009 – 90 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine, October 2009 – 91 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009 – 92 points Northwest Palate Magazine, May/June 2009: Recommended
2005 Estate Accolades
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/June 2007 – 90 points
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Estate
Selection