2017 PINOT NOIR
LOT 69
Ribbon Ridge Founding Block
VINEYARD | Ridgecrest
blocks | 5 ACre
clones | Pommard
APPELLATION | ribbon ridge
WINEMAKERS | Wynne and Harry Peterson-Nedry
HARVEST DATES | SEPTEMBER 30, 2017
BOTTLING | january 10, 2019
ALCOHOL | 13.8%
PRODUCTION | 60 BOTTLES / 5 cases
The Wine
Selected from the oldest Pommard vines that founded Ribbon Ridge AVA, this Pinot noir went into a small wooden fermentor with 20% whole clusters, closely monitored for optimum finesseful extraction until barreling. The old vines show maturity and balance in this wine with a complex mix of black tea, cassis, layered velour tannins, and bright ageworthy acid.
Harry and Wynne's favorite block in Ridgecrest Vineyard went into this unique, single-barrel selection for their first year at Willamette: the Pinot Noir Auction after deciding to focus solely on RR Wines. Their combined 50 years of winemaking experience show through with a wine that expresses the utmost complexity and balance from vines they've worked with since the vines went into the ground in 1982. This is “classic Ribbon Ridge” in density, extraction, meaty tannin, dark fruit and freshness, from the vineyard that defined the AVA from the beginning.
The Winery
Ridgecrest Vineyards was begun in 1980 by Harry Peterson-Nedry, the first vineyard on what would become Ribbon Ridge AVA. It grows Pinot noir, Riesling, Gamay noir, Pinot gris and Grüner Veltliner. RR Winery was founded in 2002 by Peterson-Nedry, and he and his daughter Wynne exclusively make small quantities of high-level Pinot noir and Riesling.