Balcombe Vineyard: Vineyard Focus
Patricia Green Cellars' Balcombe Vineyard
by Jean Yates
Balcombe Vineyard is only 7.25 acres, but its importance to PGC, and to Oregon pinot noir lovers, is greater than its size would suggest. From this vineyard, divided into five sections, come some of the best Pinots made by Patty.
The Balcombe Vineyard was named by owner Matt Cooke for his grandfather, who plied the Pacific between Japan, SF and Seattle as a trader in the 19th century. Matt was a pilot, based in Japan and Hawaii, before settling in Oregon and starting the vineyard. He was one of the first vineyard owners in his Dayton area to plant wine grapes onto phyloxera resistant rootstock.
Balcombe is adjacent to the White Rose Vineyard, and Patricia Green (pictured here with a bottle of Balcombe PN) was managing that vineyard in the mid 90's. Matt literally talked over the fence to her vineyard manager about Patty taking over the Balcombe Vineyard. In 1996, she bought Balcombe fruit, and in 1997, she took over the vineyard management and began purchasing all the vineyard's grapes. Previous to Patty's management, the vineyard was farmed by Willamette Valley Vineyards, and the grapes went into their Willamette Valley Pinot noir.
About the Vineyard
The Balcombe Vineyard is planted entirely to the Pommard Clone of Pinot noir. The Pommard clone of pinot noir is sourced from the Pommard district of Burgundy. It is historically one of the two dominant clones of pinot in Oregon, along with Wadenswil. Pommard ripens somewhat earlier than other clones, so it was selected for this cooler site. The berries are smaller than those of the Wadenswil and somewhat looser, but there are more clusters per vine. Yields are similar to the Wadenswil. The Pommard has traditionally contributed aromatic blackberry flavors to the pinots of Oregon.
1997- First Year of Management
Patty took several initial steps in her management of the Balcombe Vineyard. First, she divided it into five parts (shown at right). She says she does this with every vineyard she starts working with, to make the vineyard easier to organize, and to permit different viticultural practices to be performed more easily in selected "Blocks".
The vineyard had been cropped at 3-4 tons per acre, a lot of fruit for a young vineyard to produce, and in the first year that Patty managed the vineyard, she cropped way back to give the vineyard a rest. She raised the trellis to provide more canopy and began studying the characteristics of the site.
Soil and Sun
The soil of Balcombe Vineyard is volcanic Jory soil, bright red in color, typical of the Dundee Hills Appellation, which Balcombe lies just west and south of. Dundee Hills soils are reddish, silt, clay, loam soils derived from Columbia River basalt flows and provide moderately deep and good water-holding soils. Patty estimates that the soil in Balcombe is over 3 feet deep.
Cultivation and cover cropping was started by Patty in 97, with the goal to increase the humic matter in the soil. Organic compost is currently added each year.
Sun exposure was managed by different leaf pulling regimes for different parts of the vineyard. The vineyard is at 600-650 ft elevation, and air movement and exposure are critical factors for grape ripening. At 600 feet, the vineyard cools off quickly at night. The leaf canopy is altered to allow for sun exposure and to allow the ground to receive heat from the sun to warm it up and encourage growth.
The Blocks of Balcombe Vineyard
Each of the five blocks of Balcombe Vineyard have different characteristics. Block 3 has the most "vigour"- it produces lots of leaves and fruit, and requires the most frequent and largest amount of pruning to keep the crop load small. Blocks 2A, 1A, and 2B all produce similar Pinot noir, and are used to make the "Balcombe" Pinot noir each year. The vineyard produces about 2-2.5 tons of fruit per acre under Patty's management, with the exception of Block 3, whose problem with vigor makes lower yields essential to maintain fruit quality.
After adding the Block 1B pinot to the overall Balcombe wine in 1997, Patty found that its different characteristics overwhelmed the feminine, spicy quality of the 2A, 1A, and 2B blocks. Balcombe Block 1B is the warmest, most sun exposed part of the vineyard. It has shallower soils than the other blocks, and ripens earlier than the other sections. It makes a darker, richer, more full bodied wine that is prized for its qualities. Balcombe 1B also has especially good lees (the seeds and bits left in the bottom of the barrel after fermentation) that have the scent of blackberry yogurt. Patty has been "adding back the lees" of the Balcombe 1B for several vintages, to add tesxture and flavor to the wine.
Patricia Green Cellars Pinot noir Balcombe 2002
This 2002 Balcombe comes from 3 of the 5 blocks in the vineyard. Two were chosen for their supple qualities and high-toned, floral aromatics and one is chosen to support the more ethereal qualities in the wine.
The wine has sweet cherry fruit and rose-petal notes in the nose. It is a medium bodied wine, quite concentrated without being out of balance with the structure or acidity of the wine. If anything this may be the most balanced of all the wines from 2002.
This elegant wine is big enough to support the use of 50% new oak in aging. Balcombe's velvety texture tends to show well at a young age, but if you drink it in the next year, allow it to breath before drinking, and the wine should age well for 4-6 years.
2001 Vintage Notes, from the Winery
The 2001 Balcombe Vineyard was probably the wine of the vintage for PGC. For the previous two years Balcombe Vineyard has produced the highest toned, silkiest and most aromatically expressive wine in the cellar. The 7.25 acre vineyard is set high up in the Dundee Hills. While the elevation and its great exposure provide it with the suppleness and texture that make Pinot Noir so incredible those two factors force us to work harder in this vineyard than any other. Since we operate in a fairly marginal climactic part of the world we always have an eye on the calendar as we get deeper into October. In 2001 we felt that the larger sized clusters would be delayed in achieving physiological ripeness in this generally late ripening site. Consequently we dropped fruit on numerous occasions and ended up with a resulting tonnage of about 1.4 tons per acre. While we harvested less fruit than we are generally accustomed to the quality is supreme!
This is pure Dundee Hills Pinot Noir. It has deep aromatics of black cherries, crushed raspberries, fresh rose petals, red earth spices and a touch of sweet oak. The wine has the signature velvety texture, richness and long, spicy finish that make Balcombe extraordinary and highly sought. For those of you in the know there is also a bottling called Balcombe Block 1B that was sold on futures that is more masculine and powerful. The regular bottling of Balcombe Vineyard is perhaps the wine we get most excited about (the 2000 bottling was the wine we featured at the 2002 International Pinot Noir Celebration). There are only 470 cases of this wine."
Jean's notes on the 2001 Balcombe: I tasted four times in barrel- it just kept getting better! One of the best Pinot noirs Patty has ever produced and one with an incredible cellaring potential. I suspect Pierre Rovani's going to rave about this wine in Wine Advocate, Patty says he tasted this summer with them.... Just a wonderful, wonderful wine. Very limited.
2000 Vintage Notes
Wow! Jean's fav of the 2000 PGC single vineyard Pinot noirs, this wine reminds me of Patty's 98 Quail Hill Pinot Noir (92 points in Wine Spectator). This wine has tons of different scents and flavors. The scent is what I call "Patty nose". There's a scent to the really great Oregon Pinot Noirs that varies from winemaker to winemaker- It's always interesting, appealing, and intriguing... Ken Wright's always has this tiny hit of rose petal and vanilla to me, Beaux Freres is St Dalfour French Black Cherry Preserves and a hint of mint. Patty's Pinot Noirs have a tiny hint of licorice and tar in the warm vanilla and apple wood smoke nose.
This wine has gushing, black bing cherry, cassis, blackberry, currant, and spice flavors. It is drinking spectacularly well from barrel. The wine has depth and complexity, but could probably be drunk on release through 2008. We're looking forward to this one!
Winemakers notes: The vines are now 11 years in age and the lion's share of the vineyard is showing a level of grace and complexity that comes with maturation. There are about 30 barrels of this wine and 1o of them are new. The wine has very sweet and supple cherry and rose petal nuances with a silky texture and a fine stream of tannins on the back. This wine is impeccably balanced and while the texture should make it accessible in its youth the intensity of fruit and the balance of the other components will make it age worthy.
Patricia Green Cellars Pinot noir Balcombe 1B 2002
(This wine is still available for purchase 5/04)
The wine has a silky texture and sensual viscosity in the mouth, with initial scents of toasted coffee bean lingering as the flavors of red cherry, raspberry, and cherry, cherry, cherry spread out in the mouth. A hint of burnt toast on the long warm finish adds a nice touch. Still quite closed in comparison to some of Patty's wines, this wine is one to cellar for at least 6 months to six years. Should be a long laster, with a well articulated tannic backbone.
Wine Spectator rating 91 points: "Wine Spectator says: "I found excessively gamy character in many of GreenÕs 2002s, but this oneÕs gamy notes seem to be limited to the aroma. It has elegant structure and its cherry and spice flavors linger into a long, refined finish. Best from 2005 through 2012.ÑH.S."
From the winemakers: " We have decided, in an effort to show the site as distinctly as possible, to divide the bottlings of Balcombe up. This bottling is made up entirely of one of the five blocks in the vineyard. As in the 2000 vintage Block 1B tends to produce the darkest, deepest and most tannic fruit in the vineyard. There were only 7 barrels of this wine. The wine is incredibly dark in color and has a big nose of ripe, succulent black cherries, blueberries, mocha, iron, red spices and, depending on the barrel, well integrated sweet French oak. This is a fairly muscular, powerful wine with a deep mid-palate and fine tannins on the back of the wine. If you like them chewier, big and age-worthy this is your wine. It has characteristics that are in line with the normal bottling of Balcombe but we feel there is not only a greater sense of depth and strength in this wine but a greater sense of terroir as well. It all comes out to just about 165 cases of wine. This is EASILY our most popular wine."
2001 vintage notes:
From the winemakers: " We have decided, in an effort to show the site as distinctly as possible, to divide the bottlings of Balcombe up. This bottling is made up entirely of one of the five blocks in the vineyard. As in the 2000 vintage Block 1B tends to produce the darkest, deepest and most tannic fruit in the vineyard. There were only 7 barrels of this wine. The wine is incredibly dark in color and has a big nose of ripe, succulent black cherries, blueberries, mocha, iron, red spices and, depending on the barrel, well integrated sweet French oak. This is a fairly muscular, powerful wine with a deep mid-palate and fine tannins on the back of the wine. If you like them chewier, big and age-worthy this is your wine. It has characteristics that are in line with the normal bottling of Balcombe but we feel there is not only a greater sense of depth and strength in this wine but a greater sense of terroir as well. It all comes out to just about 165 cases of wine. This is EASILY our most popular wine."
Balcombe Pinot noir 2003 Vintage Preview
For Balcombe Vineyard, 2003 was a big vintage, at least in one sense. The wine is dense, more blackberry than black cherry, and earthy notes of boysenberry, wild black raspberry, and loganberry add a lively complexity to the fruit that is most appealing. The crop was smaller in 2003 and Patty and Jim were ruthless in sorting out the heat damaged fruit, so what was left is a little more intensely flavored and richly textured than the 2002. The wine is very dark in color, and more of a Burgundian style than some of the other 2003s from PGC.
At A Glance Balcombe Vineyard
Location: Off Breyman Orchard Road, Dayton, Oregon
Planted: 1990
Size: 7.25 acres
Appellation: Eola Hills
Soil: Volcanic Jory
Root stock: 3309
Clone: 100% Pommard
Owner: Mort Cooke
PGC manages and harvests all the fruit from this vineyard.
First harvest under PGC management - 1997.
Wines Produced:
PGC Balcombe
PGC Balcombe 1B
Some juice may be used in "Oregon" or "Reserve" bottlings
