2017 PINOT NOIR
LOT 9
Last Chance Pommard
VINEYARD | KIFF
block | 3
clone | POMMARD
APPELLATION | YAMHILL-CARLTON
WINEMAKER | Joel Kiff
HARVEST DATE | NOVEMBER 1, 2017
BOTTLING | FEBRUARY 1, 2019
ALCOHOL | 14%
PRODUCTION | 120 BOTTLES / 10 CASES
LAST CHANCE POMMARD. LAST: These grapes were the last ones we picked in 2017, and, we believe, the last Pinot picked in the entire region for 2017. CHANCE: This wine happened by chance. Because the 2017 crop was large, we filled up every fermenter we had, and there were still four tons of Pommard unpicked in the vineyard. There were no more fermenters available to be purchased in the valley. We had to leave the homeless grapes to be ravaged by the birds and the impending winter. Then mother nature gave us two weeks of mild, cool October weather with very little rain and hardly any birds. Some fermenters became available, so we cobbled together a picking crew and brought the fruit in November 1. So, just by chance, here is a super-long-hang-time Pommard-clone Pinot for you to try.
J.L. Kiff Vineyard is Joel and Laurie Kiff. We have a nine-acre vineyard and winery just outside McMinnville, Oregon. We started with bare land in 2004, and a goal of residing there and making a living farming. We wanted to do the work ourselves and not take on financial partners. And we quit our day jobs. Is this the most efficient way to build a winery business? Probably not, but we take inspiration from the way the Oregon wine pioneers did things 40 years ago. So our winery building is rustic, but good wine comes out of it. Our vineyard is never perfectly manicured, but the grapes have soul. We are not well known, but we have great customers and we love spending time with them.