ROCO The Stalker Pinot Noir 2021
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Jeb
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The palate is not just big, but BIG! Got to love the huge tannin grip from skins, seeds, and stalks (stems) in this wine. Black cherry fruit is almost over- shadowed by a spice rack of Mediterranean Italian spice mix, cardamon, forest floor, browned stems, and wet slate minerality. This is a robust wine from start to long, long finish.
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Winemaker Rollin Soles hails from Australia, where grape stems are referred to as "stalks"; an illustration of him being pursued, or stalked, by the thunderbird that represents the winery appears on the label of this wine. To produce it, Soles destems whole berries into small fermenters for a ten-day soak while aging the removed stems separately for seven days under inert gas; the latter are then hand-punched into the fermenters and punched down twice a day before the gently pressed juice is transferred to French oak and matured for nine months. The resulting wine is an intensely bright, floral beauty. Cherry bark, dried roses, violets, and a zing of pink peppercorns flourish on the nose and palate. Wild strawberry, cinnamon, and tilled soil are enveloped in a distinct, stemmy mouthfeel.
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James Suckling
Fragrant nose of rose petals, raspberries, pomegranates and rhubarb. Very fresh, with a medium body and chalky tannins. Nicely mineral at the end.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Taking on more layers, the 2021 Pinot Noir The Stalker is a youthful saturated ruby and opens to aromas of sandalwood, preserved cherry, and anise. Medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannins and mouth-filling fruit, it‘s a generous wine, with mineral accents and a great finish.
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ROCO represents the finest in Oregon winemaking with storied bottles and humbling accolades. It’s a 30-year history of devotion to craft. In 1987, Rollin Soles purchased a breathtaking hillside property down a gravel road in the Chehalem Mountain Range. The property’s perfect combination of elevation, soil type, natural springs, and geological aspect were the seed of a dream that would eventually become ROCO Winery.
ROCO (Named for ROllin and COrby Soles) For nearly fifteen years, the Soles’ property remained a mostly wild landscape used for a variety of farming endeavors. Rollin was making wine at Argyle, his previous venture, and Corby was busy serving in a number of executive positions in the Oregon wine industry. But as the years wore on, the property’s southwestern exposure and diverse soils begged for the Soles to realize their dream: a vineyard of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sloping toward the creek below, the Chehalem Valley beyond, and Oregon’s Coast Range in the distance.
In 2001, Rollin and Corby planted Wits’ End Vineyard and began bringing the idea of ROCO to fruition. Two years later, they produced their first vintage of Private Stash Pinot Noir—showcasing the very best of Rollin’s small-lot winemaking skills in a bottle that was eventually served in the White House. Building on their success, in 2009, the Soles built ROCO its own winery and added a tasting room in 2012. In 2013, Rollin expanded Wits’ End Vineyard and transitioned to full-time focus on ROCO to keep pace with its growing prestige and demand. Today, Wits’ End Vineyard remains the heart and soul of ROCO wines. ROCO Private Stash and Wits’ End Vineyard Pinot Noirs derive exclusively from these vines—and serve as Rollin and Corby’s testament to the beauty of place, their devotion to family and friends, and their commitment to Oregon winemaking at its finest.
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
The potential of Willamette Valley Pinot noir continues to attract the investment of serious growers and winemakers both locally and from abroad, as naturally the finished wines bring accolades from professionals and enthusiasts. With a range of styles from delicate dried cherry, raspberry and hibiscus to stronger notes of truffle, mocha, plum and spice, a fine Willamette Valley Pinot noir is a perfect expression of both character and grace.