2017 Cuvée Lola WV Pinot

Sleeping with the Swedish fishes

A Story: My daughter Lola is starting to drive. I’m thinking the tractor is really going to hone her skills.

The Cliff Notes: The wine is dark garnet in color, with a nose that is warm and enveloping cherry, pencil, slight green, wood shop and cola. The palate offers dark cherry, plum, caramel, black licorice, maybe specifically Swedish Fish. The hallmark of this wine, purposely held for six years before release, is its complexity, its lack of flaws, its demonstration of how nothing superfluous plus the march of time leads to smooth resolution, and lands it perfectly in the pocket of drinking.

The Building of: These were our two best-tasting barrels in the cellar from 2017. They were wild-yeast fermented in stainless steel, 100% barrel aged for 17 months in French oak (one once-filled, one neutral). We bottled unfined and unfiltered in March 2019, and thereafter cellared for six years before release.

Ageability: Well cellared you should anticipate additional complexity during its first 15 years with a potential 10- to 20-year drinking horizon.

Vineyards: Farmed and harvested by the JKC crew, the Pinot Noir grapes are from our certified organic St. Dolores Estate high on Parrett Mtn in the Chehalem Mtns AVA. This represents our best barrel of Pommard clone from our 10+10 block near the winery entrance, counter-balanced by our best barrel of Wadenswil clone from our Two Trees block.

— Jim Prosser, owner/winemaker