2016 Legacy Helen’s Pinot Noir

Named after Bill Stoller’s aunt, this wine is made primarily from the Wädenswil clone of Pinot Noir. Helen’s has a quietly elegant nose of ripe, succulent red fruit and black cherry, which give way for secondary notes of lavender, baking spice and minerality. The palate shows nuanced flavors of cherry pie and rose petals leading to a long finish. 

2016 was a warmer than average year for the Willamette Valley, with a perfect deceleration of heat accumulation at the end of an early growing season that allowed a nice pace to harvest. A touch of rain during flowering gave the composition of small clusters with a higher skin to pulp ratio, leading to concentrated flavors and aromas, making 2016 one of the best vintages to date.