Nicolas-Jay Pinot Noir Own Rooted 2017 750ml

This is a beautiful wine with dark berries, mushrooms and pretty ripe berry undertones. Fruit tea as well. Medium-bodied with fine tannins and a reserved finish. Light iodine at the end. Drink now or hold.

Deep magenta. Expansive red and blue fruit, floral and spice scents are underscored by emerging mineral and succulent herb flourishes. Firm and focused in the mouth, offering bitter cherry, boysenberry, candied rose and cola flavors that unfurl steadily through the midpalate. Shows good depth and energy as well, finishing very long and gently chewy, with fine-grained tannins adding framework and final grip. 50% new oak.

A blend of entirely non-grafted vineyard sites, this own-rooted blend takes the purity of forest, citrus and red fruit notes found in the other wines to another level. It feels like a lid came off that you didn’t know was on in the first place. It's seductive, enticing and three-dimensional, with notes of root beer, clove and struck match.

Svelte and refined, with a lively beam of acidity and minerally tannins wrapped in elegantly layered raspberry and blueberry flavors laced with clove and spice. Drink now through 2028. 165 cases made.

“Own-Rooted” Pinot Noir showcases several old-vine sites in the Willamette Valley, each at least 30 years old, and planted at a time when rootstock was relatively rare in Oregon viticulture. The Bishop Creek Vineyard supplies a portion of the blend, showing off its characteristic black fruit. Hyland Vineyard, the oldest in the McMinnville AVA, sits atop a hillside looking over the Van Duzer Corridor, and its 45 year old biodynamically farmed vines supply a high-toned red fruit and floral element. 1990-planted Pommard from Nysa Vineyard completes this wine, supplying elegant red fruit and spice. Native yeast fermentation, 16 month maturation in 50% new French oak, bottled unfined and unfiltered. 270 cases produced. A note from Nicolas-Jay on the 2017 vintage: After a cool March, a wet April made for a slightly later than average bud break. Warm and dry weather thereafter made for normal bloom and veraison timing. While summer was warm, we had no heat spikes of past years, and the grapes matured without fear of sunburn or dehydration. All vineyards were picked from the 14th of September to the 30th. For the first time, we saw almost perfect chemistry in the fruit - gorgeous ripe flavors, with ideal sugar and acid balance. The resulting wines are dense, aromatically complex wines with linear precision and age worthy tannins.