2015 Vespidae WV Pinot

More sleek than chubby
More seal than walrus

from Sept 2017

A Story: Vespidae (ves-puh-day): Latin name of the family of wasp trying to kill me.

The Cliff Notes: The wine projects a medium garnet color. Full roses (floral), ripe resinous cherry, caramel, pepper spice and mossy forest laden the nose. After a few minutes it’s almost coffee/toffee in its dark linearity. In the mouth the wine is elegant and intense dark cherry/pomegranate, short of sweet and shy of bitter. The acidity sings vibrantly, yet just a brush of tannin lays it balanced on the palate. 2025 update: The nose now is effusive spiced cherry fronting See’s molasses chip candy. It’s a full mouth attack of cherry and peach that hints at, but never commits to, sweet oak. Nuanced in its complexity, balanced on its acidity, it sports crazy refined lip-tongue tannin and proclaims a high degree of drinkability. 

The Vintage: The 2015 growing season was the warmest Oregon has seen thus far, with a September harvest delivering abundant yields. That said, the wines played as if they were made from an ever-so-slightly cooler vintage. Yes, it required pulling in the reins to stave off boozy, and it turns out our picks were as physiologically early as any we’ve made. We keep redefining ripeness for ourselves. Plum and prune are not in that conversation.

The Building of: Six- to eight-barrel-lot, wild-yeast fermentations in stainless steel, 100% barrel aged for 17 months: 27% new, 15% one year, 17% two year,  41% three year or older. Bottled unfined and unfiltered in late February 2017.

Ageability: We absolutely recommend that you consider decanting to get it some air within its first three years. This wine should easily climb in complexity beyond ten years.

Vineyards: This is our flagship bottling and represents two very pure vineyards: Our St. Dolores Estate (7 years) brought structure plus juicy, and Temperance Hill (36 years) brought old-vine complexity plus beautiful acid. 

— Jim Prosser, owner/winemaker