Purple Hands Wichmann Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019
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James
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Wichmann Vineyard sits at approximately 670 feet atop the Dundee Hills of Oregon's Willamette Valley. The vineyard consists of 100 percent, well-drained Jory soil that formed from basalt rock sediment. Dark reddish-brown in color, the loam, silt, and clay of this site form a layer more than 40 inches thick above their basalt subsurface—a perfect place to grow grapes of outstanding quality.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dried roses, blueberries, raspberries, lemon peel, dried leaves and mocha on the nose. It’s medium-bodied with creamy, ripe tannins. Juicy and zesty with a long, flavorful finish. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Refined and a bit broad-shouldered, with detailed cherry and guava flavors that are accented by notes of black tea and clove. Drink now.
Other Vintages
2018-
James
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Purple Hands Vineyards celebrates site-specific pinot noir and chardonnay that unearth the Willamette Valley’s long evolutionary history. Using traditional winemaking techniques, they strive to produce wines that convey an honest expression of each of their vineyards—its grapevines and cultivation, soil and stone, sunshine and rain. All of their wines undergo native fermentation and remain unfined and unfiltered at bottling to preserve their natural, wild character. Achieving elegance in this pursuit is the passion and art of their craft.
Over the past 40 years, Cody’s family has created a legacy of quality in the Oregon wine industry. Their winemaking styles and techniques helped Oregon’s Willamette Valley become the premium Pinot noir producing region in the world. At Purple Hands, Cody continues to build on the standard of excellence initiated by the previous generation.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.