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Cuvée O Pinot noir
Allocated to three bottles per PRE-PAID CLUB MEMBERS or those within the Five Figure Members. Learn more here
Current Wine: 2021
EIEIO Cuvée O Pinot Noir:
A rare bottling.
A rare bottling.
Since my start in 1998, there have only been six bottlings of the EIEIO Pinot noir designated as Cuvee O, the outstanding, the opulent, the optimal.
Blending is not as easy as most might think. Blending of the various vineyards and blocks can take over one year. And most of the time, these blends do not work out to be something compelling enough to be designated the top end “Cuvee O” Pinot noir. At times when I thought I had a blend that would work, by letting it sit in its sampling bottle overnight, it became something else. Not that it was bad, just that it did not qualify to be bottled as Cuvee O. And even my penultimate blend was ultimately changed as when I tried it again, it was perfectly beautiful, but beautiful in the way a perfect glass of water is at times; beautiful, pleasant, pleasing and completely innocuous.
This 2018 vintage blend is made up of two different fermentations: The main part, or approximately 70 percent, is a co-fermentation of Saffron Fields Vineyard’s Pommard of which 100 percent was whole cluster and Maverick Vineyard’s 943 clone, all of which was de-stemmed. During harvest, this 943 or the “
Clone of Pinot noir was the fermentation putting off the most intoxicating aromatics and as well as the darkest in color, it was a monster. The remaining 30 percent is 100 percent whole cluster from old vine Wind Hill Vineyard Pommard. This site is fairly cool and ripens last which in-turn allows the grapes to retain great acidity. Aromatics lean toward red cherries and red plums with road dust.
During élevage or the “raising” of the wine in barrel of nineteen months, the wine rested in French oak. The blend is comprised of three once-used, and one three-time used barrels from the Cooperages of DAMY, Taransaud and Francois Freres. The barrels were not moved, racked or stirred during their élevage.
The Wine:
Darker than my normal style of Pinot noir, this wine is almost brooding in color, still translucent but deeper. Aromatics are more akin to the smell of dusty fruit ripening along a gravel road, of which we have plenty of out here with a seemingly limitless wild plum tree population. First intake shows intense acid, an impassioned combination of blood orange and pomegranate. This wine gets your attention right up front. With acidity comes salivation and flavors like a bowl of blackberries combined with Candy Cap mushrooms and a squeeze of lime intensify your experience. The tannins, while present, are superfine and offer a nice juxtaposition to the fruit and acid three-legged stool at this point. Yes, the wine is all “asses and elbows” as they say, you know; things that stick out. This wine needs time as it too was bottled on April 4th with the majority of my 2018 vintage. The finish shows more like a sour pie cherry with a dollop of vanilla ice cream at this point. These seemingly strange flavors and textures will all meld together with time in the bottle, as patience always rewards those who wait.
Cuvée O Pinot noir
Allocated to three bottles per PRE-PAID CLUB MEMBERS or those within the Five Figure Members. Learn more here
Current Wine: 2021
EIEIO Cuvée O Pinot Noir:
A rare bottling.
A rare bottling.
Since my start in 1998, there have only been six bottlings of the EIEIO Pinot noir designated as Cuvee O, the outstanding, the opulent, the optimal.
Blending is not as easy as most might think. Blending of the various vineyards and blocks can take over one year. And most of the time, these blends do not work out to be something compelling enough to be designated the top end “Cuvee O” Pinot noir. At times when I thought I had a blend that would work, by letting it sit in its sampling bottle overnight, it became something else. Not that it was bad, just that it did not qualify to be bottled as Cuvee O. And even my penultimate blend was ultimately changed as when I tried it again, it was perfectly beautiful, but beautiful in the way a perfect glass of water is at times; beautiful, pleasant, pleasing and completely innocuous.
This 2018 vintage blend is made up of two different fermentations: The main part, or approximately 70 percent, is a co-fermentation of Saffron Fields Vineyard’s Pommard of which 100 percent was whole cluster and Maverick Vineyard’s 943 clone, all of which was de-stemmed. During harvest, this 943 or the “
Clone of Pinot noir was the fermentation putting off the most intoxicating aromatics and as well as the darkest in color, it was a monster. The remaining 30 percent is 100 percent whole cluster from old vine Wind Hill Vineyard Pommard. This site is fairly cool and ripens last which in-turn allows the grapes to retain great acidity. Aromatics lean toward red cherries and red plums with road dust.
During élevage or the “raising” of the wine in barrel of nineteen months, the wine rested in French oak. The blend is comprised of three once-used, and one three-time used barrels from the Cooperages of DAMY, Taransaud and Francois Freres. The barrels were not moved, racked or stirred during their élevage.
The Wine:
Darker than my normal style of Pinot noir, this wine is almost brooding in color, still translucent but deeper. Aromatics are more akin to the smell of dusty fruit ripening along a gravel road, of which we have plenty of out here with a seemingly limitless wild plum tree population. First intake shows intense acid, an impassioned combination of blood orange and pomegranate. This wine gets your attention right up front. With acidity comes salivation and flavors like a bowl of blackberries combined with Candy Cap mushrooms and a squeeze of lime intensify your experience. The tannins, while present, are superfine and offer a nice juxtaposition to the fruit and acid three-legged stool at this point. Yes, the wine is all “asses and elbows” as they say, you know; things that stick out. This wine needs time as it too was bottled on April 4th with the majority of my 2018 vintage. The finish shows more like a sour pie cherry with a dollop of vanilla ice cream at this point. These seemingly strange flavors and textures will all meld together with time in the bottle, as patience always rewards those who wait.
