THE BLESSING, AND CURSE, OF PINOT NOIR
The blessing, and curse,
of Pinot Noir is its extreme sensitivity to growing conditions and handling.
For us, this means letting the fruit achieve its highest potential on
the vine, and then handling it as little as possible during the winemaking
process. Only through such careful practices can the essence of the vineyard
site, or "terroir," be expressed in the wine.
The result is wine with a silky, sensuous texture, a solid backbone of
acidity, long flavors dominated by fruit, and complex aromas. Achieving
such a well-made Pinot Noir is the focus of all our efforts at Patton
Valley.
MORE ON OUR STYLE
Our foremost tenant of winemaking is to allow the characteristics of the
site, or "terroir," to show through. The process begins with fastidious
vineyard practices. Monte, our winemaker, learned these firsthand while
working at Beaux Freres, one of Oregon's premier Pinot Noir producers.
The co-winemaker and the day-to-day manager of the vines is Jerry Murray,
who oversees planting, pruning and harvesting (among other duties!). Jerry
has made wine all over the world, including Oregon (Erath, Panther Creek and
J.K. Carrierre), New Zealand (Martinborough, Highfield Estates) and Germany (Weingut Selbach-Oster).
Throughout the winemaking process, we handle the fruit as little as possible
to avoid disturbing the delicate texture and aromatics. Pumping the wine,
for example, is kept to a minimum, with gravity or inert gases used to
move it whenever possible.