And Jim Cowan had a similar reaction first.
1 Like
My last note on the 2021 Ribbon Ridge:
“2021 Vincent, Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge - there are winemakers who get it - their terroir, their vintage, the way to let both shine in their wines - no one does it better. I have always enjoyed Oregon Pinots and have looked for authenticity in a sea of the same old stuff. Very few give me hope; only one gives me pause.
If you want an honest glimpse of Ribbon Ridge, taste this. Transparency, thy name is Vincent.
Truly wonderful!”
It appears David and I are on the same page.
Best, Jim
2 Likes
As if BerserkerDay wasn’t enough, Vincent’s spring release just dropped.
Spring 2023 Wines - Prerelease Special Pricing
2021 Pinot Blanc Willamette Valley $30 retail $25 prerelease
2021 Chardonnay “Tardive” $35 retail $30 prerelease
2022 Rosé Willamette Valley $25 retail $20 prerelease
2021 Gamay Willamette Valley $30 retail $25 prerelease
2021 Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills $35 retail $30 prerelease - limit 6 bottles
2021 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard $50 retail $40 prerelease
Plus:
2016 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard $45 rerelease special
2017 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard $45 rerelease special
For shipping, we offer $30 ground shipping on six packs and free ground shipping for 12 bottle purchases or more . Mix and match encouraged! Local Portland and Willamette Valley delivery no charge on 3 bottle or larger purchases.
For payment, we can email you an invoice for credit card payment via Square or PayPal, or we are on Venmo at @VincentWines.
Spring 2023 Wines at Prerelease Pricing
There’s not too much more to say about the 2021 vintage except - gentle spring, hot summer, excellent harvest conditions (which matter most), but a tiny crop that made for light harvest days and many casks left unfilled. Buy early to make sure you get what you want, quantities are low.
2021 Pinot Blanc Willamette Valley $30 retail $25 prerelease
Our Pinot Blanc is a cult favorite and the 2021 might be our best example yet. But wow it’s taken some extra time. This wine wasn’t ready for bottling last summer when we thought it might be, so it aged for 18 months on lees in older French oak, this would usually be labeled “Tardive” as a later bottled cuvee but everything took longer this vintage so here we are. One bottling, labeled “regular” Pinot Blanc with a lovely new label featuring a gorgeous Chanterelle mushroom. But really it’s a Pinot Bland Tardive. Green/brassy color. Minerally, chalky green apple and white peach aromas, leesy and complex. Bright and brisk in the mouth, textural with the subtle grip of a perfect sweet/tart apple, white fruit and mineral flavors, lingering mineral energy, maybe we should always be aging the Pinot Blanc 18 months before bottling? Don’t miss, only six barrels.
2021 Chardonnay “Tardive” $35 retail $30 prerelease
Our flagship white wine, the Char-dive (Char-DEEV) is our longer aged cuvee of Willamette Valley Chardonnay. Tardive meaning later bottled, after the wine speads more time aging on its lees for greater development. The fruit here is mostly from Dion Vineyard in the Laurelwood District AVA, 33 year old own-rootes vines on loess soils, with a bit from Royer Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA on volcanic soils. (Yes, there will be a Chardonnay Royer Vineyard single vineyard bottling offered this coming fall!) Brilliant clarity to this Chardonnay Tardive, green gold in color. Lots of ripe orchard fruit with wet concrete and other stony, minerally notes. Always bright acidity here but this wine has the richness of the 2017, which has aged incredibly well. Drink now and enjoy its youthful fruit and pleasure, or hold 3 to 7 years, or longer, in a cool cellar and see its earthiness come out as it ages. Only five barrels
2022 Rosé Willamette Valley $25 retail $20 prerelease
The first wine of the most recent vintage, our dry Rosé is mostly direct press Pinot Gris with a splash of Gamay for color, barrel fermented in old French casks and bottled unfiltered just a few months after harvest. This is living Rosé, just like the prior years, but we always want to make sure people know we make unfiltered, natural wines. We only started making Rose when we were confident people would enjoy a fresh, unprocessed Rosé. So the 2022, a season that began with a deep frost but ended with a surprising big crop, at least where it didn’t frost the worst. A late to ripen harvest, which typically means fresh, crisp wines. And so we have our 2022 Rosé, crips and mineral with a subtle red fruit and lovely floral overtones. This is wine of freshness, to be drunk in the next year for maximum enjoyment. We made more than ever in the abundant 2022 harvest, so here’s one wine we shouldn’t run out of…unless you all get crazy. Seven barrels.
2021 Gamay Willamette Valley $30 retail $25 prerelease
Like the Pinot Blanc, this wine was expected to be ready last fall but it simply wasn’t done fermenting. So we kept if topped up and otherwise left it alone and then the other day we tasted the composite of all the barrels and wow, we loved it. If you’ve enjoyed our past Gamays, check this out. Deep magenta color but not dark as night, there’s a translucence when you hold it up to the light. Then aromas of pie cherries, maybe the whole pie with earthy pastry notes, floral. Then bright and brisk in the mouth, with vibrant cherry flavors and clean earthy notes, mouthwatering acidity drawing out the finish with a fine tannin texture, wow, we’re so happy with this wine, only wish we had more. Five barrels.
2021 Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills $35 retail $30 prerelease - limit 6 bottles
A blend of mostly Zenith with a bit of Temperance Hill vineyard, this cuvee represents the Eola-Amity Hills AVA (American Viticulture Area) in the Willamette Valley. Eola refers to the god of wind, and this part of the valley is cooler with wines that typically show a brisk, windy quality. Think red raspberries compared to the black cherries we tend to find on Ribbon Ridge. There are some whole cluster lots in the mix here, but even with destemmed wines in the Eola-Amity Hills, people often ask “whole cluster”? They sense a subtle herbaceous quality that complements the brisk, ripe fruit. That describes this cuvée, it’s like a bowl of fresh raspberries with a few bramble leaves set among them. Fresh, floral and vinous aromatically. Medium bodied, bracing and yet rich with a delicate weight that you want with Pinot Noir. More nervy than its cousin, the Ribbon Ridge cuvee, but so fine and elegant. Very limited, order NOW. Five barrels only.
2021 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard $50 retail $40 prerelease
The first single vineyard Pinot Noir from 2021 and our first since the 2019 vintage. What a joy to offer this wine, a powerhouse cuvee from this top Ribbon Ridge AVA vineyard, Armstrong. We’ve worked with these vines from the very beginning with its planting in 2007 and first wines back in 2010. How amazing to watch this vineyard grow up, seeing how it produced delicious wines in the earliest years with young vines and now is only giving more detail and nuance in its wines as the vines reach their 15th season. The soils on Ribbon Ridge are sandy marine sediments, millions of years old but not terribly rich in fossil life. Rather, they are simply terrific sloping, well drained, nutrient poor vineyard soils that showcase the fruit of Oregon Pinot Noir. Ribbon Ridge is blocked from much of the winds that the Eola-Amity Hills are known for, and the Ribbon Ridge wines show a lovely sunniness without too much ripeness. We pick first here each season, as the vines bud out and flower early, so the fruit is ready first but before too much ripeness saps the energy we want in the wine. The 2021 Armstrong Pinot Noir is deeply pitched in color, with a luxurious black cherry fruit aroma, then gravel and tree bark botanical notes, some nutmeg spice that I always find on Ribbon Ridge. Concentrated with a strong mineral edge and fine, marine soil tannin, enjoy this wine young as a super cuvee of our Ribbon Ridge bottling, or cellar for 5-10 years so it can unfurl all of its layers. Aging is never required, but wines like this held for a few years can soften in such a pleasurable way. Four barrels.
2016 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard $45 rerelease special
2017 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard $45 rerelease special
The last of our library rereleases, as we worked through the tiny crop of 2020 and the short crop of 2021. As we are featuring the 2021 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard, let’s offer one more shot at the contrasting 2016 and 2017 Armstrongs. The 2016 is from an early ripening vintage, grapes harvest in early September. Still young, with spicy black cherry notes and soft tannin from the warm year. This was originally offered in 2018 and is drinking wonderfully, and no rush. Then the 2017, from a later harvest, grapes picked at the end of September into October after a late, wet spring. Lighter in color and body, more delicate and elegant than the '16 but less rich too. Like finer fabric. Less tough, but perhaps better? You might prefer the linen of 2016, where the 2017 is more lace. Perhaps try them both while we have them.
1 Like
I already added some of this to my BD14 purchase now where to store them?
1 Like
I’ll make room😎
1 Like
Me too.
Finally seeing this, been busy! Thanks Patrick for sharing the write ups. The 2021 Ribbon Ridge was part of last fall’s offer and is essentially all gone. Maybe a few spare bottles…
The 2021 Pinot Noir Armstrong Vineyard Ribbon Ridge is the big sibling cuvee to the Ribbon Ridge. These are the best barrels, aged longer on the lees than the base Ribbon Ridge. To me vineyard designate wines should be essentially the “center cut” of what we made from the site, so this wine is special. What didn’t go here went into the Ribbon Ridge (still very good!). So don’t overlook the Armstrong Vineyard.
Also, 2022 Ribbon Ridge cuvee will be in the next prerelease offer in August. Much better quantities after adding another vineyard near to Armstrong called South Face. Fun to play with a different terroir in the same neighborhood. Also fun to have enough wine for the interest!
7 Likes
Opened one of these last night and came across your excellent note on CT. It was enjoyed with company, which might have been a bad thing because after each sip, I was immediately taken away from the conversation as I was so surprised at the complexity. Great stuff!
From an email from Vincent. I’m not sure he’s that sorry… LOL
I’m sorry to say the 2021 Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills sold out fast, even faster than we expected. That sorta leaves us without a Pinot Noir at that price that would really satisfy.
So we’re going to do somethings a little crazy. We’re going to offer small quantities of our 2016 and 2018 Pinot Noir Bjornson Vineyard for the same $30 price that we were charging for the new Eola-Amity. Limit 3 bottles per person per vintage. These wines will sell out, so if you’re interested, order by replying to this email and letting us know your picks. We’ll follow up as soon as we can to confirm everything.
3 Likes
Yeah, it’s definitely one of the best new world pinots I’ve had in a while. I can relate to that situation as I’ve been there. Like when I’m the only wine geek in the group, and actually the only one even paying any attention whatsoever to what’s in anyone’s glass, and absolutely no one wants to hear me wax two-bit wine critic… I savor in silence.
4 Likes
A few days ago I bought 6-bottles of the Vincent 2018 “Tardive” Pinot Noir, I am waiting for it to be shipped in a month or so……I loved the 2019 Ribbon Ridge Pinot, so I am hoping the 2018 Tardive will be just as good or better!
3 Likes
Picked some up as well! Started on a 6 pack on BD and im up to a case now of mixed vincent wines.
A little background of the Bjornson Vineyard that Vincent sources from:
Björnson Vineyard makes history in Oregon’s Eola-Amity Hills.
4 Likes
It’s actually true. When you’re out of a Pinot Noir at a particular price, it can derail a mixed case order. And that’s not good for anyone!! 
4 Likes
Enjoyed last night the Bjornson Vineyard 2012. Sub perfect lighting darker than expected but surprisingly no major bricking at the rim. On the nose earthy, soggy king mushrooms, ripe darker cherries, some spice (touch of cinnamon), Palate very similar riper red fruits and cherries. When first opened, my wife, thought it was a little “hot”. Med + acid. Med finish. Med tannins. Drink now-soon Drank over 2 hrs… Riedel Burgundy stemware.
To be fair, I enjoyed the wine with dinner and am glad to have had the experience. It also helped confirm my view of when I best enjoy Oregon Pinots (5-7yrs). This wine was NOT precise (which is the opposite of what I have come to love from the Vincent line up and other favorite Oregon Pinots). The flavors were slightly muddy (not piercing and totally distinguishable) it was not overly complex, and it lacked a bit of “lift” I have come to enjoy from Vincent wines. (I would have probably guessed California blind). I will not say that this wine cannot age OR is over the hill…I just think the wines are better (my pallet) younger. As always, I am interested and appreciative of others’ views.
I have been slowly sampling the 2020 Chardonnay Tardive over the last couple of days, and I am quite impressed by the depth, specifically on the finish. Do not serve it too cold. It seems best around 60 degrees where the mid-palate austerity can give way to the richness that comes at the end. It’s really quite striking, and I suspect poised for a reasonably long life.
3 Likes
Thanks for the note on the ‘12 Bjornson. I think the ‘12s are the least exemplary of my wines and age. I looked up my initial offer on this wine and my note finished, if you like rich Pinot Noir this wine is for you. I try to admire whatever the years give and it’s true this one is powerful, and not normally what I’m after. And it’s a little Californian too. I’d drink this one in the next couple years for sure but years like ‘11 and ‘13 Bjornson so lithe and sleek and should hold a while longer I’d guess. Some like more power, so there’s the ‘12. Cheers!
3 Likes
This pinot-- Vincent Armstrong 2017 is gorgeous. Med+ on the nose, complex, with this beautiful crunchy “red delicious apple”, cranberry, raspberry, cherry, black liquorish, +++. The crunchy red apple reminded me of a mature blanc de noir vintage champagne. Palate matches the nose. Med + acid. Silky tannins–turning slightly sandy on the finish. I want to describe this as youthful certainly visually shows little aging, having said that on the palate there is some wonderful earthy/rocky flavors underpinning the fruit. It is bright, it is very precise. The finish is long. No decant. Drank over 2 hrs. Riedel burgundy stemware. I look forward to seeing where this wine goes. Drink now…cause it really is gorgeous. Hold because in 2-3 it will be even better.
3 Likes
Drinking a 2017 Vincent Ribbon Ridge PN tonight. I took a chance and paired it with a mild and creamy Jalfrezi curry, and it worked well. Finishing off the rest of the bottle after dinner, and it’s absolutely delicious and improving even more with air. A wonderful wine.
2 Likes
With a couple hours of air the nose is incredibly interesting to me. Cola with a pungent hint of fall leaves. I love Oregon PNs that develop that fall leaves scent.
1 Like