Did a Dingo eat my baby?

from Sept 2012

The Cliff Notes: Cherry red with slight brick in color, the wine opens to olive and black pepper, followed by cherry, tea and cool-climate Australian Shiraz? G’day, mate. In the mouth it’s lithe cherry with smoke and a savory edge. The structure drives on acid, leaning long and exceedingly smooth.

The Story: Anderson Family Vineyard sets some of the smallest berries and, by extension, some of the smallest clusters in the state of Oregon. On the more elegant end of the spectrum and a favorite of sommeliers, it seems always to be the first of our wines to attain a more Burgundy nose of dried orange peel and iron.

The Building of: Small-lot wild yeast fermentations, 100% barrel aged for 18 months in French oak barrels (one new, one once-filled, one twice-filled). Bottled unfined and unfiltered in March of 2012. 

Ageability: You’ll do best by decanting to get it air within its first three years. Well cellared you should anticipate additional complexity during its first 10 years with a potential 12 year drinking horizon.

Vineyards: The steep and rocky South Block of Anderson Family Vineyards is dry-farmed 20-year-old Dijon 115 clone Pinot noir. As such, it is some of the oldest Dijon clone Pinot noir in Oregon.

— Jim Prosser, owner/winemaker