2022 Antoinette WV Pinot

Hi-tone cherry Fender Stratocaster 

A Story: Antoinette was the name of our grandmother and is, in our view, synonymous with elegance.

The Cliff Notes: The color, as the wine, is light red and intense. The nose is straight out of my childhood: Ponderosa pine, vanilla and pitch, supporting cherry, pencils and hints of everything, but you can’t quite get your arms all the way around it. The crazy energy that arrives in your mouth applies a turbo to those hints of everything: raspberry, cocoa pod, carmelized pork. It’s light on its feet with a generous dense fruit core, the classic velvet-wrapped hammer, my favorite of the vintage. 

The Building of: Seven best barrels selected, wild-yeast fermentations in wood and stainless steel, 100% barrel aged for 15 months: one new, three once-filled, three neutral. Bottled unfined and unfiltered in December 2023.

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: Temperance Hill’s (42-year-old) later and cooler high-elevation vines, at the top of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, deliver old vine complexity with fresh acidity. These own-rooted vines are from the Front Block, the oldest at Temperance, and their massive root systems go deep to deliver high flavor and nuance to the limited yield.

— Jim Prosser, owner/winemaker

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