720 Cellars Current Releases
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2006 Oregon Pinot Noir, "Willamette Valley"
This was a very fun wine to make. The year was excellent, harvest was flawless, and we could take a page from the AIG executive rulebook: "We can do whatever we want". In that I mean we had some lots undergo native (spontaneous) fermentation, could play around with the barrel program, and otherwise focus on blending 3 great vineyards within and around the Eola Hills appellation of the Willamette Valley, and 4 Pinot Noir clones that have names that sound like Boeing aircraft (777, 115, 667, etc. etc...).
The range and spectrum of this wine is a swirl of the bright raspberry and cherry end of the spectrum finishing with a foundation of darker elements of blackberries and cola. It's spicy and nice, and a really excellent wine that has no desires to be the bull in the china shop, or elephant in the room, or other such metaphore that means "in your face".
Availability: $25. 400-something cases produced.
2005 Oregon Pinot Noir, "Croft Vineyards"
A wine of assertive volume, ripe fruit, deep soil minerals, and balanced vine maturity, this wine is worthy of time in the glass while you work on your list of favorite adjectives. Sourced exclusively from Croft Vineyards, on the skirts of the Eola Hills in the Willamette Valley, this wine was made from a select series of Pommard (~65%) and Wadenswil (35%) clones, planted in 1991 and 1985. These vines, and all vines at Croft for that matter, have been farmed following organic practices since inception, and we are pleased to announce that this is our first Pinot Noir having winegrapes following organically grown certification.
The harvested clusters were gently destemmed and fermented in open topped containers, holding about 1.1 tons, or 1/2 acre each. Fermentation was long, slow, cool, and quiet, and we followed with a light pressing and unification of the free run and press fractions. Pressing day was very reminicent of velvety blue-winged butterflies waving whiffs of lavender and blueberries thoughout the winery. Seriously. The fresh wine was then barreled down to 20% new (and 80% progressively older) French oak barrels from the Allier and Nevers forests for 20 months. The wine was bottled by hand on a nice, sunny day in late July 2007 in the company of good friends.
Availability: $35. 310 cases produced.
Vintage Note: We hold onto this wine for a year in bottle before release. The 2006s are outstanding and we will be releasing soon. Grab the 2005s while they're still around!
2007 Oregon Pinot Gris, "Croft Vineyards"
Made as a vineyard designate with certified organically grown grapes, this wine shows the strengths of the site's ability to produce a deep mineral and stonefruit background, with a foundation of honey to support the bright aromatics of pineapple, pear and tropical fruits. In other words, it's like one of those groovy hats that Carmen Miranda once wore to show the world the samba, only it's a refreshingly dry and crisp white wine, and not a hat.
We gently press the whole clusters of Pinot gris to yield the finest of the juice run, and ferment it very slowly at cool temperatures to retain the delicate fruit balance. The wine is bottled in the Spring for Fall release. Like Pinot Noir, we find a little bit of time following bottling really improves the overall balance and expansion of this wine.
Availability: $17. 201 cases produced.
