Winemaker Notes
Situated just above the 45th parallel and just between the protective rain shadow of Oregon’s Coast Range to the west and the majestic Cascade Mountain Range to the east, the Willamette Valley enjoys a long, late growing season, perfectly suited for world class Pinot Noir.
Food Pairing Notes
All Argyle Pinot Noirs are hand picked and fermented in small batch open-top bins - a rare, time-consuming and labor-intensive process for a winery of any size. This gives our winemaking team ultimate flexibilty in blending - literally to the vineyard block.
Vineyard Notes
The growing season began with a moderate winter followed by a wet spring, leading to a mid-to-late April budbreak. A cool, rainy middle of June lead to a challenging bloom, resulting in some of our lowest yields in a long time. The rest of the summer was quite beautiful—a classic no-AC-required Oregon summer. A late August/early September heat spike accelerated ripening, which sent us into harvest mode on Septem-ber 1st with Chardonnay at Lone Star Vineyard. After a week of picking, easterly winds blew smoke from the Cascades into the Valley, causing us to stop and re-evaluate our harvest plans. We moved with Mother Nature and decided not to pick anymore red grapes after the fires in order to focus on sparkling wine, chardonnay, riesling and still wine rosé, keeping wine quality at the core and focusing on gentle, low-yield pressing. We finished picking on October 23rd, with a small parcel of late-ripening Lone Star riesling.
