Thanks again everyone— and special thanks to @Rodrigo_B
It’s been an amazing show of support from the WB community this past week.
Quick update: I had a good meeting with a distributor yesterday, and silver lining is that they cover the Pacific NW so this will bring my wines into Washington and Idaho for the first time. Yes! I should perhaps get the first order in April and then the first check in late May so it will be difficult for a few months, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
So with that reality, the FOUNDER discount code is still alive and kicking at SunBreakWineCider.com . To peak your interest a bit more: I showed all four 2021s Pinots, the ciders and vermouth to five experienced somm/reps. and managers yesterday and I was jazzed to get very positive feedback. And then when we went through pricing, they were super impressed with the QPR. That is my business model— my goal is to be THE best QPR for single-vineyard Eola-Amity Hills/Willamette Valley (I do not have tasting room, winery or property assets to weigh me down). We had a very long meeting and tasting, which they assured me would not be the case for meh wines… even with the wine maker and owner there. So shop with confidence! Thanks again!
My order from David arrived earlier this week and after a DM from @Patrick_Taylor asking me about my preferences with all cuvee, I talked myself into Pobega’ing a bottle of each of the 21s to try side by side.
My short notes on the wines:
Colette
100% destemmed. The most fruit generously fruited of the wines. Tart red cherries and raspberries. On the palate light. high toned. bright acidity. Very playful and drinkable. 13.5% ABV
Marie-Paule
30% whole cluster. Darker and more brooding fruit, but still on the red fruit spectrum. Some oak spice to it with clove. Denser and more concentrated fruit. Much more structured tannins to frame the wine. Probably my favourite of the lineup. 13.2% ABV
Marie-Paule Reserve
Made from a selection of David’s best barrels. 40% whole cluster. Very different from the regular Marie-Paule. Redder fruit profile with early picked cherries, cranberries. Some tea leafs and oak spice. Lighter, more delicate than the regular Marie-Paule. 13.2% ABV
Ariane
100% whole cluster. Earthier, filled with soil tones. With bright, lacy red fruit underneath. Lighter in body than the Colette and Marie-Paule, but more structured and complex than the Marie-Paule Reserve. 12.9% ABV
I should reiterate here that I’m really digging these wines, especially the Marie Paul so far. Going to tuck into a 2021 horizontal this week and follow up. Hopefully @Ben_H2 and @btyson check out the bottles I passed on to them soon and can provide feedback. Pretty cool project
Dan passed on a bottle of the marie paule to me, and I may have opened it too soon (travel shock?) because it was pretty shut down the first days of having it open. Currently on day 5/taste 3 and after giving it a lot more air it really came out of feeling shut down and has been showing well. Agreed with Rodrigo about the dense fruit, definitely getting a lot of concentrated flavor without veering into jammy/stewed territory which I appreciate. I dont find the oak to be too intrusive, definitely frames the fruit well without it being dominated by any one aspect. Acid could be a tiny bit higher for my taste, but overall been very rewarding to see how this has developed over tasting it. I might recommend ~hour decant for now, but its otherwise ready and will be fun to track over the next few years.
Thanks for the notes, Bennett. I don’t use new oak barrels so that structure is from the 30% whole cluster (the cuvée is from 30% barrels that were 100% whole cluster fermented, and 70% for barrels that were destem fermented). It’s true that the acidity is a bit lower than previous years— not so much because the grapes and juice chemistry at harvest (which was between 3.1 or 3.2pH). Turns out vineyard research is pointing to potassium uptake being highly variable. But also, whole cluster will always increase pH due to the potassium in the stems. So the Colette, 100% DeStem, is always my brightest Pinot and in this vintage was approx 3.5pH
The tightness/shut down aspect is definitely reflective of its youth, but that is way more than what we are experiencing. Just had a tasting at the winery with a WB group and I opened the bottles an hour before, but didn’t decant. So yes, must be travel related? I don’t know. Thanks again for your notes!
Oops, I think I mixed up oak with tannin when typing things out, but thanks for providing more details about vinification. Interesting about the pH and potassium, I don’t mean to suggest that I thought it was borderline flabby, if anything, the acid was more integrated than I would have expected for such a young bottle.
I finished the bottle yesterday and it was the best showing yet, so some time and air definitely did it good, maybe I just didnt know what to expect on the PnP.
This is aLways the weird thing for me with whole bunch wines. Pretty much every single wine with a decent amount of stems comes across to me as fresher even though the physical chemistry numbers that we’re accustomed to would suggest the opposite.
I did a little horizontal last night after a morning cork pull on all three of the 2021s. In keeping with the above, the structure and perceived freshness and complexity was highest for me in the Ariane… the whole bunch wine. Pretty informative to taste them all under the same conditions, I enjoyed all three quite well. If pressed, I’d have to pick Ariane>Collette>Marie Paul, but by a slim margin. I think the partial whole bunch wine lost out simply due to it being less distinctive when placed with the opposing ends of the whole bunch spectrum. FWIW, the Collette certainly seems the most immediately accessible, but they are all drinking quite well at this early stage.
Major value here in well made pinot noir! @David_Patte
Hey folks, we just bottled our Nicolette white Pinot Noir and this wine is also available with the 40% FOUNDER discount code along with all the rest of the Pinots, vermouth and heritage-style, bottle-conditioned dry cider. The 2022 Nicolette is from early picked Wadsenvil block/clone at Cortell-Rose Vineyard. Struck flint minerality on the nose and palate; the flavor profile is bright citrus notes and white flowers. 12.9% ABV. $27 retail/ $16.20 with the discount.
Click here to shop online, or PM for local or nonVinoShipper States such as California. Discount code: FOUNDER
Thanks everyone for the support! (Approx. $7K to date!)
Here’s a quick update: I have a new partnership with American NW. The silver lining is that this gets me into Washington and Idaho : ) They just placed the first order-- so another 30 days (terms…) wait for some of that good 'ol local distributor income.
Therefore… We’ll keep the 40% discount going until cash flow returns. The “FOUNDER” discount code will be open to all through the end of May. PM or email me dpatte62@gmail.com for local orders/deliveries; or for UPS shipping go to our online shop (hotlink)
This includes our newly released 2022 Nicolette White Pinot Noir ($27 SRP; only $16.20 with discount). This is a blanc de noir-style white: bracing acidity, struck-flint minerality with citrus, peach and white flowers on the palate. Delicious.
Finally got around to opening the bottle of the Marie-Paule Dan passed me a few weeks ago. Maybe good I waited a few weeks based on @btyson’s notes because this was pretty ready to go and kept improving throughout the night. Always enjoy finding American pinot that pulls its weight, and fun to get this level of body in a lower alcohol wine. Pretty restrained nose but it opened up pretty quickly in the glass, nice depth of fruit, well balanced, surprisingly long finish without the bitterness I sometimes associate with whole cluster. Glad I got to try this!
Thanks! We stay on the lees the entire time in barrel (no racking) and add two old-school battonage (barrel stirring) to help build body and reduce bitterness. Depends on the vintage of course— I think this year (2022 vintage) based on barrel tasting, I will add a third round. I also like using all 6 clones at the vineyard so that the wine can hit as many notes as possible. Plus, it’s cool to support the original owner’s vision (I am the first to use all 6 clones as he had intended— the others tend to pick and chose one or two due to logistics or preference).
I’m more naturally a late picker (for flavor), so it was nice to see the ABVs come in the 13.5% to 12.9% range in 2021. (Only one of the 10 other wineries had a later pick than me at our collective winery facility at Björnson.) It was a warm vintage but I had a hunch that a couple of the those very hot weeks would actually delay harvest (the vines can shut down to avoid hydric stress).
