Belle Pente (bell-pont') means "beautiful slope" which owners Jill & Brian O'Donnell thought well represented their vineyard located in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Inspired by the exquisite wines of Burgundy and Alsace, Jill and Brian follow the guiding principle that great wine is made in the vineyard and merely nurtured in the winery.They practice organic & biodynamic viticulture, using their 3-level, gravity-flow winery for gentle, natural winemaking in small lots. This approach with minimal handling and manipulation helps produce premium wines of character and distinction.
A few facts about Belle Pente:
* Soil - The shallow willakenzie soils in the area have already begun to be recognized for their ability to produce exceptional wines, with both power and finesse. This is especially significant since most of these vineyards have been planted over the past 10 years, and are just barely coming into their own!
* Microclimate - Belle Pente sits in the middle of a horseshoe shaped valley carved out by the North Yamhill River. The Coast Range mountains to the west provide a "rain shadow" effect, diverting storms north and south of us. This provides a drier, warmer site than many of their neighbors, which helps ripen the grapes earlier and more consistently.
* Elevation - at 240 to 500', the vineyards are high enough above the valley floor to provide good frost protection, but not so high that the altitude delays ripening. This is a characteristic that is shared with the best vineyards of Burgundy.
* Orientation - Their main Pinot Noir vineyard enjoys south, south-east, and southwest exposures to capture both morning and afternoon sun. Their unobstructed exposure to the west provides up to an hour more sunlight on our vineyard than many others in the area.
* History - The Pinot Noir blocks are planted on the site of an old Italian plum orchard which was destroyed during a freak October wind storm in the 1960s. Old timers in the area remember how especially delicious the plums were from this orchard, and they absolutely believe the plums can be tasted in the Belle Pente estate wines!
Wine from Belle Pente has been gaining fans from all over--notably the '06 Pinot Noir as reviewed by 750mL and the '05 Riesling as mentioned in a NY Times review also be sure to look for their other white wines as they are quite delicious as well.
In fact, look for Belle Pente Muscat to be featured in a food and organic wine pairing in the next article!
No comments:
Post a Comment