The French word for “Silica,” the shiny quartz in sand, Silice has the deepest sandy soils of any of our estate vineyards. This 18-acre vineyard sprawls over four different rolling sandy hillsides in the Chehalem Mountains AVA and most probably is a 60 million-year-old sand dune or beach. Silice sees all-day, unrelenting sun exposure, and strong winds that give the Pinot Noirs spicy powerful notes of gingerbread, cola and sassafras,with a mild savory and pretty floral lift.

100% whole-cluster fermentation in open-top, temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation tanks

Red cherry in color, this wine is reminiscent of the 2008 Silice. This is a lovely vintage for this perennial spicy, floral and sweet Pinot Noir. It has an aromatic bouquet boasting of sea breeze salinity, Christmas baking and potpourri spices of clove, cinnamon, ginger, anise and pepper. There are floral and herbal notes of roses and wildflowers, as well as a sweet mushroom meatiness and some stem spiciness. The Silice Pinot Noir is always youthfully structured, but the 2018 is suave, seamless and glides over the palate in a swath of ripe, sweet and dark fruit expressions.