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1998 Rion Reserve Pinot Noir

(updated 8/9/01)

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The Wine

Named for Patrice Rion, our friend from Burgundy who gave us advice several times over the years, we look for this wine to embody the essence of Pinot noir. Select barrels and fermentation lots are chosen from Ridgecrest Vineyards before any blending is done in the cellar. Cheryl and Harry choose components to make a wine that epitomizes finesse, elegance, complexity, textural silkiness and palate breadth and length for a vintage. We think these elements are what Pinot noir is all about — not as big as we can make it, but as beautiful as we can make it.

The Vineyard

To date, our Rion Reserve has been comprised of Ridgecrest Vineyard fruit. Our oldest estate vineyard, Ridgecrest is a 37 acre vineyard on a 72 acre property. Beginning in 1980, this site pioneered grapegrowing on Ribbon Ridge, a small ridge on the western end of the Chehalem Range and Valley. Soils are Willakenzie, a transition soil series exhibiting characteristics of both volcanic and sedimentary underlying structures. The rich, supple black cherry and blackberry fruits are characteristic of Ridgecrest Vineyard and the Willakenzie soil type. Excellent acidity and a finesseful texture and finish are hallmarks of the vineyard site, being relatively high in elevation, mature in vine age and deeply rooted.

The Vintage

The 1998 vintage is possibly the best we have yet seen in Oregon, or at least the equivalent of the highly touted 1994 vintage. The intensity of this vintage is due to a half-crop yield (e.g. 1.2 tons per acre) and perfect ripening weather at this moderately high elevation vineyard.

Stats

Harvest Data:

Harvested 10/1-2/98, 54% from the Babies Block (1.25 tons/acre) planted in 1989, and 46% from the 5 and 7 Acre Blocks (1.41 tons/acre) planted in 1982/3; harvested @22.8-24.2 brix, 5.9-6.4 acid and3.21-3.43 pH.

Fermentation:

Fermented with native (89%) and commercial yeasts (BRG) in 4 fermentations of 13-14 days total skin contact, with 6-8 days of pre-maceration; 38% of lot were whole cluster barrels, containing wine from 25% undestemmed fruit fermentations; acidulated with 0.5-1.0 g/L; pectolytic enzyme used for uniform extraction; no post maceration.

Cooperage/Aging:

Aged for 13 months (with one racking) in 59% new/85% new + 1year use French oak (6 coopers).

Clonal Selection:

Pommard (65%) and Wadenswil clones (35%).

Bottling:

Bottled 12/14/99 with no fining and no filtration.

Bottling Analyses:

13.9% alcohol, 6.1 g/l acid, 3.47 pH and 0.01% residual sugar.

Cases Produced:

Approximately 675 cases made.

Suggested Retail:

$50

Release Date:

November, 2000

Winemaker's Comments

This Rion Reserve exhibits an amazing density and packing of discrete layers of fruit flavor, spice and nuance. There is great, massive black cherry, black raspberry, currant and blackberry, but in a refined, balanced wine that has great structure of fine tannin and acid. The component fruit is half 5-Acre Block, the oldest fruit we own being in its 18^th leaf in 1998, and half from our newest dense plantings at the site, still mature in its 11^th leaf. This is at first a big wine, but with time will show itself to be elegant and long-lived. Possibly our best.

Quotes

Beverage Testing Institute, Tastings, Spring 2001: 93 Points. Deep, dark red-violet hue. Pure and focused red and black fruit aromas. Very concentrated and silky on the attack with a full body and a rich finish displaying softer, mouth-coating tannins and a degree of spice on the finish. This is very attractive now but really needs more age to show its best.

International Wine Cellar, Steven Tanzer, March/April 2001: 89. Dark red. Intriguing nose combines dark berries, graphite and a salty, vegetal hint of capers. Juicy, intensely flavored, and nicely delineated, with tangy red fruit flavors and a noteworthy density. Boasts good size and persistence. Very solidly built wine, finishing with firm, but fine tannins.

Harrington's West Coast Wine.Net, Eric Anderson, April 13, 2001: Dense sweet nose of stemmy black cherry and toast. Nice mouthfeel, very tasty off-sweet black cherry fruit, very good balance, nice long off-sweet finish and aftertaste.

Wine Spectator, February 2001, "Harvey Steiman's Hot Wines." 91 Points ... named after Patrice Rion, the Burgundian wine producer who consulted with Chehalem during several vintages in the mid 1990s. The wine has firm texture, but remails extaordinarily ripe and round, with gamy plum and pepper flavors that expand right through the finish. A solid wine, built for the cellar. Best after 2002.

The Vine, January 2001, Clive Coates MW: 15.5 Points (of 20). Medium to full colour. Good pinot Noir fruit, balanced with some substance on the nose. Medium - full body. Good fresh, ample attack. A little tannin.

Vintage Assessments, January 2001: (Reviews from the Pacific Northwest Wine Fair in Toronto, Canada.) ... and then we have Oregon Pinot noirs. Of the 24 tasted, only one swept me away-the extremely classy, rich, slightly smoky Chehalem 1998 Rion Reserve Pinot noir...

Wine & Spirits, April 2001: 90 Points. Here the '98 Chehalem fresh raspberry flavors are swathed with barnyard funk, the fruit complex, tight and tough against velvet-textured tannins. For now, it's cranked up, purple and tart, needing time to meld and melt together. As it ages, it could prove the most complex of the three.

Northwest Palate, March, 2001: Recommended. Dark garnet color. Black fruits and plum in nose. Tight and tannic, with dense plummy flavors just emerging. Vibrant and focused black cherry fruit finish; cellar 1-2 years.