Alcohol: 13%
Grape(s): Pinot Noir
Localization: Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Tasting Notes: Aromas of blue Raspberry candy, soy sauce, lilac, wet soil, tamarind, Earl-grey tea, blood orange. Flavors of tangerine, pomegranate, sassafras, saffron, pipe tobacco, spruce tips, Himalayan blackberry. Lively acidity up front with energetic and youthful tannin structure. The mid palate transitions seamlessly into a long and dark fruit driven finish. Acidity pulls forward off the finish creating a perfect paring opportunity for rich earthy foods.
95 points James Suckling: This has aromas of white peaches, apple crumble, custard, cloves and salted caramel. Delicious salty undertones throughout, with a medium body and very fine, creamy bubbles. Long pastry and biscuit notes. Caressing yet structured. Disgorged February 2022. 3g/L dosage.
The Domain: Oregon Wine Country, an extraordinary place sculpted by the floods of the last ice age, is a series of valleys much like Burgundy. The Yamhill Carlton AVA, located in the northern Willamette Valley, consists of ancient marine sedimentary-based soils, Mediterranean weather patterns and neatly combed benchlands. Gran Moraine embodies the confluence of these elements, creating a perfect setting to craft classic Burgundian varieties - Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Gran Moraine takes its name from cataclysmic floods that occurred in the northern Willamette Valley of Oregon during the last ice age. As the glaciers receded they released a torrent of water from the once giant Lake Missoula. These famous Missoula Floods traveled across the Columbia basin helping to carve out the Columbia Gorge.
The Willamette Valley became an extremely large temporary lake and was left with huge deposits of silt as well as giant boulders with origins in current British Columbia and Idaho. These are known by geologists as erratic rocks. These erratic rock outcroppings boldly manifest themselves throughout our vineyard. They were once part of the giant glacial dam’s moraine – what we refer to as the "Gran Moraine."
