The Grochau Des Amis Pinot noir 06 has an impressive, lovely nose of cherry, white pepper, and spice. The cherry notes are complex, ranging from tart pie cherry through the softly flavored Rainier to the juicy big black bing cherry. Flavors reiterate the scent, with lots of sweet red cherry and raspberry, and white pepper notes. Overall, a very pleasant Pinot suitable for savoring on its own or pairing with many foods. - Avalon Wine
This wine is available to Avalon Wine's Club members for $29.70, a 15% discount.
Wine Spectator's Matt Kramer, writing in the Oregonian, says: "like many of the best 2006 Oregon pinot noirs, this is a rich, lush wine plumped with powerful blackberry and black cherry scents and flavors. But it is not a bruiser. Grochau pinot noirs all seem to retain a certain tenderness in style that serves the cause of Oregon pinot noir especially well. This is impressive, even dramatic, Oregon pinot noir that allies substantial, pure pinot fruit with real finesse."
Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews:
Vineyards: The 2006 Cuvee des Amis Pinot noir is a special selection of what we think is this best and most representative of the vintage. Every year the composition changes based on how well the vineyards did through the growing cycle and how the wine fermented and aged at the winery. The 2006 vintage is composed of the following vineyards:
16% Meredith Mitchell Vineyard: Located in the coastal foothills in the recently approved McMinnville AVA, this vineyard sits at 700 ft. elevation. The vines and rows are spaced widely to fit the shallow Yamhill-type soil. The vines were 18 years old, and the clone is Pommard.
16%% Vidon Vineyard: Located on the Chehalem Mountain, it sits at 350 ft elevation on Jory soil. The vines were six and seven years old and the clones are Dijon 777 and Dijon 115.
33% Momtazi Vineyard: You can see this vineyard from Meredith Mitchell Vineyard; it sits just northwest and a little lower in elevation. The soil is Yamhill-type, and the vines were 7 years old. Dijon 115 clone was used in this blend.
25 % Anderson Family Vineyard: Located on a "Knob" on the North East side of the Dundee Hills, it has severe North, East and South slopes; its elevation ranges from 250 to 400ft. I am fortunate to now lease two small blocks of this vineyard, they are composed of Dijon 667 and Wadensvil clones.
10% Monks Gate Vineyard: Located in the Yamhill Carlton AVA, this sight sits just West of the Dundee hills at elevations ranging form 250-400 feet. The vineyard is on Willakenzie type soils, the slope is to the South and west; I purchase both Pommard and Wadensvil clones from this sight, only the Wadensvil is in this blend.
Fermentation: Once the grapes reached the winery, most of the grapes were fully destemmed and chilled down for five days of cold maceration. Only the grapes from Momtazi and Meredith Mitchell Vineyards were fermented with whole clusters, approximately 25% of the grapes were whole cluster in these lots. On the sixth day, the fermenters were warmed and fermentation began soon after. The fermentation generally lasted 12-14 days with a few lasting as long as 26 days. In the beginning, the cap was punched down three times daily. As fermentation progressed the punchdown regime was adjusted so as to not over-extract. Once fermentation was complete, the fermenters were drained directly to barrel. The must received a light pressing with the resulting wine being barreled separately.
Cooperage: 42% of the barrels were new, 16% where used once before, 42% of the barrels had been used in excess of 3 years. All the oak came from France, with 4 forests represented
Bottling: The wine was bottled July 30th 2007, 300 cases were produced.
