Winemaker Notes
This lower-elevation site in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA is a magnet for the two forces crucial for ripening grapes: light and heat. With both Jory and Missoula flood soils, it serves as the backbone for our biggest and boldest Pinot Noirs, and is the sole source for our high-density Riesling program.
Food Pairing Notes
Argyle Pinot Noirs are long aging, maintaining their high natural acidity and minerality borne of late season ripening and fresh fruit character. This wine can be cellared for 10-15 years (or more).
Vineyard Notes
The 2019 growing season began with a cold and wet winter followed by wet and warm spring, leading
to a late-April budbreak. A few frost scares in April gave way to a warmer than average spring. The
early June bloom was dry and sunny, with a touch of rain affecting the later ripening Spirit Hill
Vineyard in the cool, windy Eola-Amity Hills. Some late-June and early July precipitation created a
small amount of disease pressure, while the rest of the summer was quite moderate, with fewer heat
spikes than we've seen the last number of summers. September brought with it a significant cool
down and a series of scattered rain showers, making harvest much more old-school Oregon, dancing
with the whims of Mother Nature. A more classically spread out harvest, we started with Pinot Noir in
the Dundee Hills on September 4th and finished with Pinot Noir in the upper elevations of the
Eola-Amity Hills at Spirit Hill Vineyard on October 16th.
