I was surprised – perhaps simply due to the ubiquity of this grape in Oregon and my personal predilection for Pinot Blanc – to find that Elk Cove’s 2012 Pinot Gris surpassed its Blanc counterpart in nuance as well as richness and finish. Here too, though, we have an exhibition of generous vintage virtues, with a fortunate absence of green apple acid such as handicapped so many 2010 and 2011 renditions of this cepage. Peachy fruit wreathed in smoke and honeysuckle billow across a lush, schmaltzy palate, while hints of orange rind, sage and brown spices lend invigoration and a lick of salty saliva-inducement to a lusciously lingering finish. This fantastic value should be relished at least through 2014. By employing a yeast strain cultured by Ste. Michelle, Elk Grove gets their Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc to ferment for easily ten weeks at low temperature, which they consider key to both aromatic and textural enhancement.
I tasted recent Elk Cove releases this year at their Five Mountain Vineyard – west of Gaston and east of Portland – an impressively steep, wind-exposed, relatively cool site planted in 1978 by Dick Ponzi, and home to proprietor-winemaker Adam Campbell. Amusingly, the interim owners of this vineyard ripped-out a lot of Riesling just before Elk Cove began leasing it, and after the Campbells became owners in 2005, they promptly planted Riesling of their own! In fact, thanks to a lot of Pinot Gris as well as some Muscat, Pinot Blanc and Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir is decidedly in the minority at Five Mountain – just one of five Elk Cove estate vineyards – whereas it dominates in adjacent Abetina and Madrona, which are still Ponzi monopoles. (For more about Elk Cove, its history and its vineyards, consult my issue 202 report.) The 2011 harvest here took place largely in a very busy dozen days beginning October 20, with a bit of later spillover for Riesling. “In some ways it was kind of exciting,” says Campbell, painting a performance artist’s positive picture of what most vintners found a perilous scenario, “because you knew that you had to do everything right in 2011, otherwise you were not going to come out of it (alive)!” He didn’t hesitate to sell-off 20% of his Pinot fruit, noting that “bulk prices were pretty good because almost everywhere yields were so low.” At the same time, he limited his range of single-vineyard bottlings to only those sites deemed most successful. (Other than those tasted for this report, there is just one other 2011 vineyard-designate rendered in any significant quantity – and the only other estate bottling – a Roosevelt that won’t hit the market before early next year.)
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