Background on Carter Vineyard

For us, it will always be about the fruit since our first love lies with growing the grapes. We have been growing Pinot Noir at this site since the early 1980’s. Its all we grow.

Carter fruit has gone to Ken Wright Cellars for many years now, and we are proud to have shared with Canary Hill the honor of being one of Ken’s first two vineyard designates under the Panther Creek Label. Since 1990, both vineyards have continued as single vineyard bottlings with Ken Wright, retaining their distinctive tastes over the thirteen years.

In 1990 Domaine Serene Winery began to use the fruit from our Pommard Vines while Ken Wright kept the Wadensvil Clone. In 1999, 2000, and 2001 Domaine Serene made a Carter vineyard designate using the Pommard fruit with Tony Rynders as winemaker. We are very honored to have been associated with Panther Creek and Domaine Serene.

While there are no published ratings for vineyard management, Mark Gould would win top honors if there were.

Carter Vineyard Label

Beginning with the 2002 vintage, the 3 acre Hillblock Pommard site forms the backbone of our own bottling. The Hillblock is the oldest area of the vineyard and, as our first grape growing experience, holds a particular connection for us. The 2003 harvest gave us big, concentrated fruit which has only been enhanced by Ken Wright’s wine making. Total 2003 production is 500 cases.

The Wine

Winter of 2004 was unusually dry and warm causing an early bud break with all the attendant worries about late freezes. It didn’t freeze, but cold wet, weather did return, literally stopping vine growth in its tracks for several weeks, and resulting in poor fruit set over much of the Willamette Valley. A warm, even hot, dry July was followed by August rains which dropped so much moisture that a number of the small “shot” berries swelled and split. Our dry, warm winter came back into play at this point – we had a large resident population of yellow jackets due to easy overwintering. They proceeded to attack the split berries, eating away the moist, exposed tissue and thus helping to prevent mold and subsequent infestations of botrytis and grey rot. That over, we got sustained rains again during the first two weeks of September. Vineyards that were in good shape were able to hold on until the rain stopped, and indeed be rewarded by several weeks of warm dry weather. We harvested the Hillblock on September 21 at 23.7 degrees Brix and a pH of 3.33. Our yield was 1.1 tons per acre.