Francis Tannahill Pinot noir "The Hermit" 05 |
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Wine Advocate 90+ points for 2003 vintage. Tasting Notes from the winery - The wine possesses a beautiful dark garnet burgundy color from the almost opaque center to the rim. Excellently focused aromas of violets and smoke immediately emerge from the glass. Complex spice, sweet raspberries, bing cherries, blackberries, game, minerals (wet stones) and earth notes come out with aeration. Very ripe and perfumed, the aromatics lead to a rich and succulent palate. The opulence of the wine is given firmness and definition by the ripe tannic structure. Classic, broad and intense the wine finishes with an outstanding finish of depth and purity of flavor. This wine is a beautiful example of the detail and persistence of the Pinot Noirs from the 2004 vintage in Oregon. Sam Tannahill (formerly at Archery Summit) and Cheryl Francis (formerly at Chehalem)married, had a winery, then two baby boys, and make some of the best Pinot noir made in Oregon. Sam was winemaker with Gary Andrus at Archery, making those huge, over-the-top Pinots that got such high ratings. This wine will come and go in a week, so grab now if you want some. Sorry about the small amount, the winery made much less of this than their precious two vintages. Previously, Wine Spec 92, Robert Parker 92 for 2002 vintage. |
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Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews: |
| From the Winery: Winery - Founded in 2001 by Cheryl Francis and Sam Tannahill, Francis Tannahill strives to craft wines that offer the purest expression of unique terroirs, old world technique and impeccable winemaking. Select growers, vineyards and blocks are chosen and carefully tended to produce wines that balance power and concentration with integrity and elegance. Vineyard - The 2004 Francis Tannahill The Hermit Pinot Noir is a blend from Shea Vineyard, Momtazi Vineyard, David Hill Vineyard, Maresh Vineyard and Poco Vineyard. Block 26 from Shea Vineyard was planted with the Wadenswil clone of Pinot Noir and has a southern exposure that sits at an elevation of 550 feet on the west hill the vineyard outside of Yamhill, Oregon on Willakenzie soils. The vineyard is owned by Dick and Deirdre Shea and managed by Javier Marin. Momtazi Vineyard was planted in 1999 on a large biodynamically farmed vineyard in the Coast Range outside McMinnville, Oregon. The vineyard is owned by Moe Momtazi. 2004 was the last vintage that Jimi Brooks managed the vineyard. David Hill Vineyard is a small vineyard outside of Forest Grove, Oregon. The block that our grapes are harvested from was planted in 1965 and planted in Willakenzie soil. David Hill Vineyard is owned and managed by the Stoyanov family. Maresh Vineyard has the distinction of being one of the most famous vineyards in Oregon. Our block was planted in the Red Hills of Dundee on Jory soil in 1970. It is owned by the Maresh Family and managed by Stirling Fox. Poco is a tiny one acre vineyard in the Eola Hills planted in 1989 on Nekia soil. It is owned and managed by Hudson family. Vintage - The 2004 vintage was anything but typical. The spring was early and warm. However, the warmth turned to rain at flowering and as a result Oregon and the Columbia Gorge experienced the worst shatter that we have had for years which translates to very low yields. Yields were brought down by as much as half. After the rain the spring charged on into a hot summer. We thought that the harvest would come in early, and for a small portion it did. Then Mother Nature proceeded to throw another curve ball at us in the form of rain and cold. Luckily the rain did not last that long and we were able to harvest well into October under beautiful skies. Pinot Noir yields for this vintage averaged 1.5 tons to the acre. Wine - The Shea vineyard portion of this wine was fermented with 25% whole clusters in a French oak open top tank. Punched down 1 - 3 times a day the wine was lightly pressed and racked into French oak barrels, 30% of which were new. The Momtazi portion of this wine was fermented with 50% whole clusters, punched down 1 - 5 times a day, very lightly pressed and after a very short settling racked into French oak barrels 30% to 50% of which were new. The David Hill portion was fermented with 35% whole clusters. Punched down 1 - 3 times a day the wine was lightly pressed and racked into French oak barrels, 50% of which were new. The Maresh portion was 100% destemmed and punched down 1 - 2 times a day. After fermentation the wine was lightly pressed and racked into 75% new oak. The Poco portion was 100% destemmed and very well extracted. Racked into 30% new oak after fermentation, we did not press this wine at all to minimize tannin. All of the portions were fermented in oak open top tanks. Nothing was used in the fermentation and ageing of this wine save sulfur dioxide. No yeasts, enzymes, acidity, malolactic bacteria etc were added. The wine was racked and blended in September 2005 and bottled in April 2006 after spending 18 months in barrel. |
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