Estate grown fruit has always comprised the top tier of Bethel Heights' Pinot noir program, including our signature Estate blend and two or more block-designated special bottlings. Since 1995 we have purchased small lots of Pinot noir from other vineyard sites which in past vintages were generally blended into our Eola Hills and Willamette Valley cuvées. 1998 and 1999, however, were extraordinary vintages for Oregon and all three of our purchased lots turned out to be so outstanding that we decided to bottle them as separate vineyard-designated wines: Freedom Hill Vineyard, Nysa Vineyard, and Lewman Vineyard.
Lewman Vineyard is adjacent to Bethel Heights Vineyard on the South, sharing the same volcanic soils. It was planted in 1992 in the fashionable new dense planting style of 2400 vines per acre (compared to 540 vines per acre in the older sections of Bethel Heights Vineyard). The Pinot noir is about half Wädenswil clone and half Dijon clone 115, all on phylloxera-resistant rootstock.
Lewman Vineyard is managed in accordance with sustainable agricultural practices.
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1999 Lewman Vineyard "The fruit emerges completely wrapped in tannins, in a basket weave of spice, a range of red fruits waiting to unfold. It's a powerful statement of Jory soil..." Score 94, Wine & Spirits. 1999 |
1999 PINOT NOIR
LEWMAN VINEYARD
Harvest date: October 21, 1999
Grapes at harvest: Brix : 23.7, pH: 3.20 , TA: 7.5 gr/liter
Barrel aged 10 months in Center of France oak, 30% new
Finished wine: Alcohol 13.0 %, pH: 3.59, TA: 5.7 gr/liter
Bottled unfiltered in September 2000
316 Cases Produced
Suggested Retail $ 30
The 1999 vintage: Cold rainy weather throughout the spring and early summer left Oregon vineyards a whole month behind their normal timetable. The crop was thinned drastically in July to give it the best possible chance to ripen, then an unprecedented stretch of warm sunny weather that lasted through the end of October brought the fruit to peak maturity under optimal conditions. Excellent vintage.
Winemaker notes: The fruit was hand-harvested and destemmed but not crushed, then loaded into a four-ton fermenter. It was inoculated with a Burgundian proprietary yeast and fermented slowly for 12 days. After primary fermentation, the new wine was pressed gently and barreled in center-of-France oak, 30% new, where it finished malolactic fermentation the following summer. It was bottled after ten months in barrel to capture its youthful fruit.
Tasting notes:Forward on the palate, with appealing flavors of raspberry, strawberry and cherry and undertones of wood and spice. Good intensity and balance characteristic of the '99 vintage. More structured than the '98 Lewman with better aging potential.