2016 Vista Pinot Noir

The Story

Zena Crown Vineyard is located in the Willamette Valley’s Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Since its third leaf, Zena Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir has been an acclaimed single-vineyard designate for top producers such as Beaux Freres, Soter Vineyards, and Penner-Ash Wine Cellars. Since the 2013 vintage, Zena Crown Vineyard has crafted site specific Pinot Noirs under its namesake - capturing the vineyard’s changing moods and expressions just as if it were a living, breathing thing. As Winemaker Shane Moore adapts to its rhythms and natural oscillations, he seeks to explore and manifest the singular voice of this special piece of land, in accordance with the remote and rugged beauty of the Eola-Amity Hills.

Winemaking

Viewed from above, the Zena Crown vineyard is a fairly uniform, harmonious site. It faces southwest, its surface strewn with volcanic-derived soils. Although adjacent to the oldest vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, it is a dynamic place: the vineyard’s 48 blocks each have their own twists of aspect, depths and colors of soil, and grade changes. Elevation increases from 300 feet at the base of the slope to 650 feet at the vineyard’s high point, the crown of conifers. And despite emphasis on a single variety Pinot Noir, a rich diversity of clones (Dijon and Pommard selections, Wädenswil 2A, Mt. Eden, and Archery Summit clone 2) populates the vineyard, grafted onto an assortment of suitable rootstocks. Zena Crown is not a simple story of single-clone Pinot Noir, it is a chorus, we recognize the indivisible complexity inherent to this site, to the relationship between scion and grafted vine, and to these wines. Terroir at Zena Crown is a convergence, not a study in isolation.

Tasting Notes

The 2016 Vista Pinot Noir is a blend of 4 blocks and 3 different clones. The grapes are aged in French oak for 17 months (63% new). Folded like an accordion, the 2016 Vista opens with red fruit and citrus up front, transitioning to darker flavors and herbs on the finish. Aromas of clover blossom, tamarind, pipe tobacco and tangelo lead into flavours of cranberries, milk chocolate, sage and marjoram on the palate.