White Rose
White Rose
It was on a trip to Oregon with a fellow vinophile in 2008 and an afternoon at the Cristom Winery that lead to Sedimentary’s discovery of White Rose Estate. After tasting through Cristom’s 2007 line-up the talk soon turned to other wines, both from Oregon and abroad. We asked the staff what they were drinking at home right now and Jeri, Cristom’s tasting room manager, said we must check out White Rose as she couldn’t keep her hands off their current releases. Never ones to ignore sound advice, we hopped in the car and soon found ourselves gazing across the valley from the foot of the White Rose Vineyard (pictured above). Of course, the story here is not about the view, it’s about the wines. And that stunning view quickly became an after thought as we put that first Pinot to our noses. These wines were the real deal. There was something special here. How had we never heard of them?
Tucked behind the famous and much more glamorous Domaine Serene, White Rose is often overlooked by the tour buses and casual drinkers that roam the Wilamette Valley during the summer months.
It’s small and quaint and they don’t make very much wine. The tasting room is manned either by Gavin Joll the focused, professional but ever accommodating General Manager or by the winemaker Jesus Guillen whose quiet, unassuming demeanor somehow bellies the profundity he expresses through Pinot Noir. On this day we found Gavin doing tasting duty (while simultaneously filling orders to New York and L.A.) and tasted through the 2007 lineup. Thinking this must be a fairly new winery we started asking questions. Turns out the White Rose Vineyard itself was founded and planted in the 1970's and has grown and supplied some of the Willamette Valleys most prized fruit for more than four decades (St. Innocent made one of their top wines from White Rose fruit). In 2000, the White Rose Winery was built and started to bottle and produce their own wine from the highly respected fruit they had previously sold off. The rest, as they say, is history and the wines from White Rose winery are now counted amongst the absolute best in Oregon and the world.
Three trips back, dozens of e-mails and countless phone calls later Sedimentary Wines is very proud to be able to offer the wines from White Rose to the Canadian market. Our allocations are very small and after some chart topping reviews from the Wine Advocate last year we’re not sure they will ever get bigger.
But that’s just fine as White Rose is a like a precious gem; small, beautiful and hard to find. We hope it never changes.
Our Producers
Alto Adige
Coming soon!
Campania/Basilicata
Antonio Caggiano (Aglianico - Taurasi)
Tenuta San Francesco (Tintore – D’Amalfi Coast)
Emilia - Romagna
Fruili
Josko Gravner (Riobolla Gialla)
Stanko Radikon (Riobolla Gialla)
Piedmonte
Sicily
Frank Cornelissen (Nerello Mascalese – Mt. Etna)
Tuscany
Coming soon!
Umbria
Coming soon!
Veneto
Coming soon!
OREGON
White Rose Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2009
Drinking Window: Now - 2015
WS: 91 | 12x750ml | $39.78
SKU: 140582
IN STOCK
Description: The first wine I fell in love with from White Rose. This wine is for Pinot Noir drinkers who live and breathe Pinot but can’t afford the price tag usually assigned to wines of this caliber. Soursced from four sites in the Willamette and made in the same qualitative mold as it’s more expensive stable mates but with slightly more oak treatment. Hand picked (obviously) and lovingly vinified.
Tasting Note: Vibrant and bright this actually looks like Pinot in the glass (it is not black!). Floral and focused with great Pinot lift and depth aromatically. This has beautiful varietal character. Red fruit, singed herbs, cardamom, clove, orange peel? Medium bodied and focused with bright acidity and solid length. This speaks volumes to me as a winery’s entry level wine is its truest test. This delivers in spades.
White Rose 'Hand Select' Pinot Noir 2009
Drinking Window: 2012-2020
WA: 94 | 6x750ml | $120.65 SKU: 209569
WA: 94 | 1x1.5L Magnum | $238.71 SKU: 209601
IN STOCK
Description: Sourced from the original White Rose home block vineyard but only from hand selected bunches right from select vines, based on flavour and complexity. White Rose wants to know which vines are consistently producing the most focused, expressive and complex flavours. Over the years they have found that it's consistently the same vines, year over year, that produce their ideal fruit. It is therefore these vines that are being used as the material for any new vineyards. Stats: Fermented with 80% whole clusters and raised in 100% neutral oak .
Tasting Note: This is is one of the most aromatically profound new world pinots I've ever smelled (Thomas and Anthill Farms type profundity). Both ripe and savoury and dripping with sweet pinot fruit muddled with pulverized lava rock and a sprinkling of thyme. Delicious and profound, long, focused, and utterly compelling.
White Rose 'Whole Cluster' Pinot Noir 2009
Drinking Window: 2012-2020
WA: 96 | 6x750ml | $120.65
SKU: 209551
WA: 96 | 1x1.5L Magnum | $238.71
SKU: SOLD OUT
IN STOCK
Description: White Rose has been playing around with whole cluster fermentation for years now and this wine has always been their test dummy. Its gone so well that this has emerged as their most sought after and high scoring wine. As a result the 'Whole Cluster' is fermented with 100% whole clusters every vintage (hence the clever name). This is not heavy handed and definitely not over extracted, but it is big, burly and entirely masculine in character. Sourced entirely from the White Rose home bock just outside the winery and cropped at 1.5-1.75 tonnes to the acre, fermented in neutral vats, basket pressed, 14 months in 100% neutral oak, racked twice, un-fined and unfiltered. It is one of the highest scoring Oregon pinot noirs of all time. 124 cases produced. (Four 6/packs for this market)
Tasting Note: Singed herbs, sweet ripe cherry fruit and purple flower aromatics abound. Big palate weight and hewn from iron ore tannins make this dominating and present on the palate while remaining chiseled and focused at the same time.
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