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.
Cape Lookout Wins Outstanding at 2009 Oregon Wine Awards
On March 28, 2009 a prominent panel of respected wine professionals gave Cape Lookout 2007 a Vintners' Honor Outstanding Wine Award.
> Read all about it on the Oregon Wine Awards website.
In May of 2009 Cape Lookout was selected by the judges of the Fifth Annual Portland Indie Wine Festival. See the Festival website here.
In autumn 2008, Avalon Wine honored Cape Lookout 2007 among its six Best 2007 Oregon Pinot Noirs, praising its "rich complexity and layered, voluptuous finish." See Avalon Wine's list here.
Tasting Notes
Cape Lookout 2008
Our second vintage produced entirely at our own new winery facility. 2008 was a phenomenal year in the Willamette Valley, and our Russell-Grooters Vineyard was no exception. This is a great wine!
- vineyard: exclusively Russell-Grooters Vineyard
- yield: 576 cases
- availability: current (Thanksgiving 2009 release)
Russell-Grooters Vineyard, our own estate vineyard planted on well-drained Wellsdale sedimentary soils, makes its second appearance in the 2007 Roads End. First planted in 2003, it features 777 Dijon on Riparia Gloire rootstock, and Wädenswil and 828 Pommard on both 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks. These vines contribute bright, intense fruit notes all the way from blueberry and black cherry to plum and cassis.
> Download Cape Lookout 2008 technical data as a printable PDF.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Bright, pale to medium ruby with pale pink rim. Aromas are youthful, of medium+ intensity, and display concentrated notes of blackberries, black cherries, dried herbs, and notes of brambly wood. The wine is medium+ bodied, with medium- acid, and medium to medium+ tannin and body. Flavors match those of the nose and show concentrated red and black fruit notes backed by brambly, dried wood flavors. The finish is medium to medium+ in length.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: January 4, 2010
Cape Lookout 2007
Our first vintage produced entirely at our own new winery facility. The long, mild 2007 growing season gave these grapes the time to develop to rich complexity and a layered, voluptuous finish.
- vineyard: exclusively Russell-Grooters Vineyard
- yield: 170 cases
- availability: limited
Russell-Grooters Vineyard, our own estate vineyard planted on well-drained Wellsdale sedimentary soils, makes its second appearance in the 2007 Roads End. First planted in 2003, it features 777 Dijon on Riparia Gloire rootstock, and Wädenswil and 828 Pommard on both 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks. These vines contribute bright, intense fruit notes all the way from blueberry and black cherry to plum and cassis.
> Download Cape Lookout 2007 technical data as a printable PDF.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Bright, medium ruby. Youthful, medium-intense aromas of very ripe, concentrated strawberries, cherries and plums are backed by earthy, foresty notes. On the palate the wine shows medium acid and low to medium tannin with fuller body. Concentrated flavors of ripe raspberries, cherries, and blackberries dominate with woody notes and herbal flavors rounding out the medium to long finish.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: March 16, 2009
Cape Lookout 2006
- vineyard: exclusively Russell-Grooters Vineyard
- yield: 125 cases
- availability: may still be available from some retailers
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.
> Download Cape Lookout 2006 technical data as a printable PDF.
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 2008 oil painting by Robert Beckmann, the Ashland-based painter and muralist whose work also graces the Roads End label.
For more about Cape Lookout, follow these links: