2015 Stoller Vineyard Pinot Noir

WINEMAKER’S NOTES

A lovely, softer, more elegant version of Stoller Pinot than we’ve seen and we love it! The nose shows the characteristics of the Dundee Hills, in a black loam, Indian spice kind of way. Loads of ripe strawberry and rose hips fill out the fresh aromatics, red, purple and black fruit in equilibrium. The palate is amazingly approachable, showing a seamless texture. Full and creamy in the mid-palate, tapering into a lighter, more finesseful finish accented by spiced pie cherries and elegant plum-skin-like tannin.

VINTAGE OVERVIEW 

The 2015 vintage was slightly different in early growing season timing from 2014, but the final effect was the same, big heat, big crop and big expectations. The acids are down, the alcohols are hovering around 14% and the work we did to minimize over extraction resulted in more elegant wines than a hot vintage deserves. Similar to 2014, the fruit was impeccably clean and devoid of disease. We focused on restraint in 2015, and it rewarded us with incredible Pinot Noirs with density but not heaviness, nicely polished velour-like tannins and reasonable acidity. Four progressively warmer vintages, we will just learn to count higher—more heat, more fruit, more, more!

91 Points - Wine Spectator