As you would expect, this one has cherry, strawberry, and plum, cola, graham cracker, and black tea. We find other interesting notes in the corners, including nectarine, white pepper, rosemary, and pea pod. It’s 25% whole cluster.
Illahe is a Chinook Jargon word meaning “earth,” “land,” or “soil.” We feel this reflects both our location in Oregon, as well as our desire to craft wines which express the variety of soils on our beautiful 80 acre estate. Illahe Vineyards was established in 2000 by Lowell Ford, grower of Oregon grapes since 1983.Illahe is a LIVE-certified, Salmon Safe vineyard. We use cover crops on the entire vineyard. We are part of Oregon’s Deep Roots Coalition, and as such do not irrigate mature plants. We do extensive green pruning and conduct plant topping. We prune by hand and harvest by hand. We use sulfur spray to control for powdery mildew and botrytis.
As usual we brought in fruit from Ash Creek, but we also added new fruit from Pauline Vineyard near Monmouth, some of which went into the higher blends. The Willamette Valley is 10% new oak this vintage. We keep fermentation temperatures down to create a light, classic pinot with a strong acid backbone.
Pairs well with beef, veal, deer, venison, and poultry dishes.