King Estate Pinot Noir 2023

Starting with bright fruit, the wine releases aromas of black cherry, black plum, violets, roses, orange, roast, cocoa, tobacco, mushrooms, and forest floor. On the palate, layers of complex fruit slowly melt into a bold, well-structured wine that is impressive from start to finish. Velvet tannins gracefully intertwine with the wine's fruit and acidity, all blending together to create a stunning wine that beautifully expresses the Pinot Noir character of the Willamette Valley.  

Vineyards: 35% King Estate and Pfeiffer; 15% Bradshaw; 9% Treos; 8% Croft; 6% each Ninebark, Chehalem, Fern Creek; 5% Kennel; 4% Giving Tree; 6% Other

The year 2023 began with a cool and wet spring that delayed budding and foreshadowed a delayed harvest. This concern, however, was put to rest by a dramatic warming trend that began with bud break in late April and continued through most of June. Flowering arrived in mid-June, making this the shortest year for flowering since the establishment of King Estate. Summer weather was perfect, interrupted only briefly by a brief heat wave in mid-August that recorded a maximum temperature of 100℉ (37.7°C). Harvesting began on September 12, with the first fruit harvested from the company's own vineyards. It was then briefly interrupted by a storm, but resumed on October 1, and finished on October 14, just before more rain fell. The wines from this vintage are of outstanding quality.

Whole clusters are destemmed then allowed to cold oak for 48 hours with daily pump overs. Some whole clusters are left intact in select lots for additional complexity. During fermentation, 10% of juice is bled off using the Saignée method for further concentration of flavor and color. Fermentation is in stainless steel open top tanks with daily punch downs. Aged in French oak barrels for 10 months.

King Estate is nestled in the bucolic Lorane Valley about 150 kilometers south of the better known Pinot Noir growing region around Dundee and Yamhill-Carlton in the northern Willamette Valley.  Although farther to the south, King Estate lies closer to the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a slightly cooler climate that renders an elegant and crisp style of wine.  The manor house-style winery atop the estate's central hill commands an Arcadian view of the 1,033 acre estate surrounded by pastures and ringed by forested mountains, and a first time visitor gets the sense of stepping back into a simpler time, when the rhythm of life was intimately connected with the turn of the seasons and the bounty of the earth.  The certified organic vineyards are planted mainly to Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris and are interspersed with fruit tree orchards, gardens of flowers, vegetables, and berries.  There is even an apiary and a charcuterie.  But while this manorial setting evokes a self contained community from yesteryear, this is at the same time a very modern place.  State of the art winemaking equipment and techniques are employed along with the latest sustainable and organic farming practices, and a world class culinary program brings it all together beautifully in the Estate's restaurant.  The pure yet sophisticated wines are natural companions to fine foods.  Wine professionals agree: King Estate Pinot Gris has been the #1 on premise domestic Pinot Gris in the U.S. for the last four years running.