2011 Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Gowan Creek Vineyard - Hillside
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Offering an ideal southwestern exposure and an array of unique benchland and hillside vineyard blocks, Gowan Creek Vineyard brings together elements from both the Anderson Valley’s warmer regions and its cooler, northern “deep end.” This diversity has inspired two limited-production Pinot Noirs─Gowan Creek Lower Bench and Gowan Creek Hillside. Though both wines offer the wild, blue fruit flavors that are signatures of the vineyard, this bottling spotlights the robust structure and age-worthy tannins of grapes grown on the exposed, washed-rock soils of Gowan Creek’s steep hillside sections.
Wine Profile
Production Notes
100% Pinot Noir
Cooperage -
55% New, 45% Second Vintage French oak
Medium toast: Allier, Vosges and Tronçais Forests
Barrel Aging: 16 Months
Winemaker Notes
A wine of structure and intensity, this Pinot Noir vividly reflects its hillside origins, delivering beautiful strawberry, red licorice and cherry flavors with laser-like precision. Brisk, vibrant acidity and a streak of sophisticated minerality add to this wine’s beautiful definition and clarity, while Gowan Creek’s signature cinnamon and spice notes bring a warm appeal to the long, lingering finish.
Production
The 2011 growing season was the coldest in the 15-year history of Goldeneye. In the vineyard, we benefited from our experience as cool-climate winegrowers, and the exacting control we are able to apply to our Estate vineyards. We adjusted practices to compensate for the weather, with extra leaf pulling and vineyard-floor cultivation. We also did extensive fruit drops in multiple passes to encourage complete ripening with overall yields of approximately 2 tons per acre. The long, temperate season allowed for extended hang-time, and the majority of our grapes were harvested before the rains. The resulting wines are bright and elegant with slightly lower alcohols, lovely aromatics, natural acidity and pure fruit flavors.
Other Notes
Released: September 2014
Wine Specs
Wine Specs
Vintage
2011
Varietal
Pinot Noir
Vineyard Designation
Gowan Creek Vineyard - Hillside
Harvest Date
September 30 – October 15, 2011
Sugar
25.0 Brix
Acid
0.50g/100 ml titratable acidity
pH
3.76
Bottling Date
February 2013
Alcohol %
14.5
Product Reviews
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Noah Christensen
(Nov 30, 2015 at 11:33 AM)
I had the pleasure of tasting this wine at the vineyard about a year ago. I cellared a bottle, and just had to break into this for the Holiday. Truly a sensational, poetic wine.
Kent Kuusinen
(Jan 28, 2019 at 3:32 PM)
Wonderfully smooth and complex wine with great dark red fruit/cherry/cranberry/blueberry flavors and a long finish with crisp acidity. Great wine.
At Duckhorn Vineyards, this was the wine of the day, nose of really rich perfume earth, bacon, and dark fruit, more of the same on the palate, big body, incredible taste, bacon, dark cherry, smooth, elegant, mouth filling, long, ong, long flavorful finish and aftertaste. I bought two bottles to cellar.
At Duckhorn Vineyards, this was the wine of the day, nose of really rich perfume earth, bacon, and dark fruit, more of the same on the palate, big body, incredible taste, bacon, dark cherry, smooth, elegant, mouth filling, long, ong, long flavorful finish and aftertaste. I bought two bottles to cellar.
At Duckhorn Vineyards, this was the wine of the day, nose of really rich perfume, earth, bacon, and dark fruit, more of the same on the palate, big body, incredible taste, bacon, dark cherry fruit, smooth, elegant, mouth filling, long, long finish and aftertaste. I bought two bottles to cellar.