Cape Lookout Oregon Pinot Noir
It's here — our long-awaited estate Pinot!
This fruit-driven Pinot Noir is as bold as the Oregon Coast feature we named it for. We are very proud to unveil this silky wine sourced exclusively from our own Russell-Grooters Vineyard.
Here on Savannah Ridge in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, our well-drained Wellsdale soils take full advantage of the mild Pacific breeze. Our vines yield bright red berry, deep black fruit, and dark chocolate notes.
Tasting Notes
Cape Lookout 2006
- vineyard: exclusively Russell-Grooters Vineyard
- yield: 125 cases
- availability: currently available
This, our first Cape Lookout, was a big hit with the Carlton Cellars Connoisseurs Club who previewed and pre-ordered the wine, still in shiners, at the exclusive pre-Thanksgiving 2007 CCCC event. The warmth of 2006 brought out the full ripeness of this excellent wine.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Nice clear ruby color and medium intense aromas of bright berry fruit, black cherries, liquorice, red candy and notes of toasted cereal grain. Medium to lighter body, medium acidity with soft, silky tannins and flavors of red berries, sweet spice and underlying dark fruit notes and bramble. Balanced finish with persistent spicy notes.
The 2006 is a smoother, silkier wine than the 2005, with both red fruit notes as well as darker notes that are perfectly integrated with the sweet spice notes that linger through the finish. Overall, a more seamless wine.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: Dec. 27, 2007
2005 RGV private bottling
- vineyard: exclusively Russell-Grooters Vineyard
- availability: none (limited bottling, never sold)
Before it was called Cape Lookout, the 2005 vintage made a limited appearance as a private bottling under the name RGV (for Russell-Grooters Vineyard). We include the tasting notes for completeness.
Overall, the Wine & Spirit Archive calls the 2005 "a slightly bigger more robust and slightly more rustic wine. It has a nice earthy, dusty character and intriguing green notes of mint and eucalyptus that play well off of the fruit and spice in the wine."
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Clear ruby tending to garnet color. Medium intense aromas of strawberries, blackberries, savory spice and green notes of mint and eucalyptus. Wine also has a dusty earthy character to it. Medium body, medium acidity and similar notes on the palate — cherries, blackberries, earth, mint, eucalyptus.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: Dec. 27, 2007
On location: Cape Lookout
Part of the Three Capes Scenic Loop, Cape Lookout is one of the most prominent of Oregon's capes, projecting 1½ miles. On a clear day, the view is endless.
The Cape Lookout label is a detail from a large 2008 oil painting by Robert Beckmann, the Ashland-based painter and muralist whose work graces the Roads End label.
The image above is just a tantalizing detail. You'll have to come taste Cape Lookout personally to see it in its full splendor.
For more about Cape Lookout, follow these links: