Ridgecrest Vineyards

Exceptional Pinot Noirs, the great ones, carry the signature of the winemaker. But even in extraordinary vintages, it’s the little decisions that are made once the grapes come in that often separate good Pinot from the world’s most etheral wines. These decisions are complex, dynamic, and without recipe. It’s a sort of winemaker’s cuisine a la minute.

As Harry Peterson-Nedry walked the Ridgecrest Vineyard, tasting grapes in last days of the warm 2006 vintage in the Willamette Valley, he knew his Ribbon Ridge grapes would have unusually high natural sugars. He also knew, if he made the right calls, that he could not only harness all that red fruit power, but enhance it. There were risks. A heavy hand could push the wine right over the top, but if he got it right, he thought he could make one of the great Pinot Noirs of his 25-year career.

The long-awaited release of the 2006 RR Pinot Noir is finally upon us. This is a deeply colored, wildly aromatic Pinot Noir that balances tremendous ripeness with a certain chewy density brought into play by some whole-cluster fermentation. How to best understand the impact of the whole clusters? By leaving a certain volume of stems and whole berries at the bottom of the fermenter, Harry carefully extracted more stable color, density and a touch of tannic muscle that serves to almost perfectly counterbalance the unbelievable ripeness of 2006. The result is one of the more stunning American Pinots we’ve tasted in a couple of years — a sort of faintly New World version of a first-growth Nuits St. Georges in a ripe vintage.

But it’s not just the cuisine that makes this 2006 RR so special. It’s the selection. RR is drawn off the best lots of Harry’s superb Ridgecrest Vineyard. But even then, once the wine is in barrel, there’s a second selection. While Harry’s 2006 Ridgecrest Pinot Noir was a delicious, bright cherry affair, RR is kind of a super-Ridgecrest; much deeper in color, more explosive aromatically, spiked with the special touch of the maitre cuisinier.

Don’t be fooled by the tremendous opulence of this exquisite Pinot Noir. We spent three days with a bottle and each day — like the greatest Burgundies — it just seemed to add a little bit of weight, a touch of fat, a bit more aromatic complexity. Over dinner in Dundee, we asked Harry about the longevity of the 2006 RR. This is a quiet man from North Carolina, a chemist by training, hardly given to bombast. He looked up from his grilled salmon, adjusted his glasses and just dead-panned, “That one’s going to be around for a while.”

Tasting Notes

“The 2006 RR was sourced from the Ridgecrest Vineyard. It offers an enticing nose of spice box, smoke, and red and black fruits followed by a dense, full-bodied, structured wine. The flavors are savory and sweet with plenty of spice leading to a long, pure finish. Give it 3-4 years in the cellar and drink it through 2021.”
93 points — Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

“Saturated red color. Cherry-cola, blackberry and rose on the nose. Vibrant red and dark berry flavors are given depth by sweet cola and licorice qualities and framed by velvety tannins. Suavely blends richness with vivacity and finishes with echoes of sweet dark berries and candied flowers. This is really sexy.”
92 points– Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar