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Wine Details
Price:
$18.00 per bottle
Description:
The Benchlands is priced to be our entry level pinot noir. Despite the modest price the wine is made with as much care and attention as the other wines and it was aged in 30% new French oak barrels as were all of our 2002 releases. The primary fruit source for the wine is the Melrose Vineyard on a bench along the South Umpqua River. This site has deep alluvial soils and the grapes exhibit great up front fruit and aromas. To add some structure and length we blended in a bit of wine from the north part of the AVA. The wine is a clear garnet color with very pretty floral rose aromas with raspberry, cherry and warm honeyed oak. Strawberry and Queen Ann cherries dominate the flavors with a nice round mouth feel. It has moderate weight with a long lingering caramel finish.
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Varietal Definition
Pinot Noir:
The name is derived from the French words for ‘pine’ and ‘black’ alluding to the varietals' tightly clustered dark purple pine cone shaped bunches of fruit. Pinot Noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in the cooler regions, but the grape is chiefly associated with the Burgundy region of France. It is widely considered to produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine. By volume most Pinot Noir in America is grown in California with Oregon coming in second. Other regions are Washington State and New York.During 2004 and the beginning of 2005, Pinot Noir became considerably more popular amongst consumers in the United States, possibly because of the movie Sideways. Being lighter in style, it has benefited from a trend toward more restrained, less alcoholic wines. It is the delicate, subtle, complex and elegant nature of this wine that encourages growers and winemakers to cultivate this difficult grape. Robert Parker has described Pinot Noir: "When it's great, Pinot Noir produces the most complex, hedonistic, and remarkably thrilling red wine in the world."
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