Teutonic Alsea Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016

Tasting Notes

Sommelier alert! Barnaby and Olga Tuttle planted the Alsea Vineyard in 2005, and to this day, it remains the only coastal vineyard in the northern Willamette Valley beyond the AVA boundaries. Previously thought too cool to ripen Pinot Noir, Alsea sits on the western flank of the Coast Mountain Range, just 30 kilometres from the ocean. Consequently, it is cooler and wetter than those sites on the eastern side. Yet, Alsea has proven to offer a perfect modern climate for Pinot Noir, with long summer days, very cool nights and a long growing season. Then, the free-draining Bellpine soils and rainfall levels facilitate dry farming. In the words of Neal Martin, this is a “great terroir”. No chemicals are used; everything is organic, and the farmers use cover crops and seed balls that act as natural fertilisers for the soil. They also keep bees but don’t harvest the honey.

The mostly destemmed Pinot grapes ferment in open-top vessels using a pied de cuve started in the vineyard. After three weeks, the wines are pressed and settled before going to old barrels for maturation. As with many of this grower’s wines, the Alsea Pinot is built to improve in bottle, and Teutonic has (kindly) initiated a program to release a portion of each vintage when the wines are “just beginning to sing and burst to life.” Critic Neal Martin, writing in The Wine Advocate, obviously agrees: “A vertical [of the Alsea Pinot] demonstrated its propensity to hit a sweet spot 5-6 years after bottling.” - Importer Note