Firesteed Pinot Noir 2006

The wine is richly aromatic, like a warm berry cobbler topped with cold vanilla ice cream. Good depth of bright, ruby colour, with perfumes of spiced berry fruit on the nose. On the palate, it is bright and lively, with good balance between a juicy, cherry fruit character and a lightly spiced backbone of ripe tannins. The spice from the oak carries through to the finish.

PRODUCER

Firesteed started as a ‘virtual winery’ in 1992, and although there is now a physical winery, the winemaking philosophy remains unchanged. In the words of Howard Rossbach, “We seek to make wines of quality and value and once we find them we work out long-term contracts with grape growers to produce wines to our specifications.”

VINTAGE

2006 was a tremendous vintage for Oregon and began with ideal flowering conditions, allowing a normal sized crop to set for the first time in years. The good weather continued right up to harvest time and the grapes were picked in excellent condition. As with previous vintages, the grapes were picked from all over Oregon, including Willamette, Umpqua, Rogue and Walla Walla Valleys.

VINIFICATION

The grapes were fermented in stainless steel tanks with selected yeasts propagated from cellars in Burgundy, pressed during the last days of fermentation, and racked as soon as the wine finished malolactic fermentation. A small amount of barrel-aged wine was included in the blend to round out the wine.