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Haden Fig, “Cancilla Vineyard” Pinot Noir

Oregon, United States 2017 (750mL)
$36.00
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SommSelect

Haden Fig, “Cancilla Vineyard” Pinot Noir

Whenever I taste an Erin Nuccio creation, and I’ve had too many to count, I’m always blindsided by the shocking level of detail, finesse, and Pinot Noir purity swirling about the bottle. His Willamette Valley releases are value epitomized, especially today’s site-specific bottling from the Certified Organic “Cancilla” vineyard. Surprisingly, this is its first-ever appearance on SommSelect, and I honestly couldn’t tell you why it hasn’t come sooner.
Maybe it's because of the ridiculously small seven-barrel production? But, then again, all of his wines are micro-produced. Perhaps we should forget about the “why” and just bask in the incomparable pleasure of naturally farmed, naturally crafted style Pinot Noir. We consider Erin Nuccio to be the poster child of Willamette Valley’s incredible value-for-dollar wines and his 2017 “Cancilla” release further strengthens the superiority of this increasingly legendary terroir. I’m sure the following news won’t come as a bombshell, but we still feel compelled to share it: Quantities are extremely limited. These single-vineyard wines are always present on our shortlist of all-time great Pinot values—don’t miss out! We anticipate this won’t last long.
You may remember Nuccio’s story from previous offers: He got his start in wine at a retail store in Washington, D.C., then worked in distribution in Boston before following the siren call of the West Coast. He went to enology school in California while also working in vineyards, but he knew his ultimate destination would be Oregon’s Willamette Valley—a place that captured his attention since his first sips of Willamette Pinot back in D.C. He found work with Russ Raney at Oregon’s Evesham Wood (where he remains the winemaker) and simultaneously cultivated a network of vineyard sources with which to launch Haden Fig. In fact, Erin crafts and bottles today’s wine at Evesham Wood. 

Ken Cancilla went to great lengths to make Cancilla Vineyard a reality. A Washington D.C. native, Ken moved across the country in the 1990s and settled in the remote wilderness of Willamette Valley, just outside the northwest border of Yamhill-Carlton AVA. It was here that he purchased a sprawling, long-abandoned Christmas tree farm and slowly went to work supplanting trees with naturally-farmed vines. 

Erin Nuccio also went to extreme lengths to purchase this fruit. He, too, relocated to Oregon in the mid-2000s to begin his winemaking journey. Ken was an old friend from D.C., and Erin had assisted with some of the original plantings of Cancilla, so acquiring some of this precious, Certified Organic fruit for his inaugural  2007 vintage was important to him. Ken said no. Determined, Erin asked again the following year and Ken finally met him halfway with a yes/no answer: Erin could purchase fruit, as long as it was solely fruit from the vines Erin had originally helped him plant!

The silty, clay loam soils of Cancilla Vineyard are categorized as “Melbourne,” part of the marine sedimentary series (which also includes the more-famous Willakenzie soils) that served as the Pacific Ocean’s floor eons ago. With such a fabled, ancient terroir, Kevin was adamant about farming naturally and obtaining a Certified Organic certification. All vines are worked by hand and dry-farmed, and the crop is harvested at low yields after extended hangtime. In the winery (Evesham Wood), the grapes undergo a native-yeast fermentation with twice-daily “punch downs” and the resulting wine matures in French barrels, 10% new, for 16 months. Each wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered. 

Nuccio’s wines show a complete mastery of fusing supple fruit, grip, elegance, and mineral backbone into one dynamic mouthfeel. The wines are always highly expressive after a brief decant, and have no trouble flaunting deep, expressive aromas of red plum, dried black raspberry, ripe wild strawberry, rose petal, hibiscus, underbrush, crushed river stones, damp moss, and subtle spice. Medium-bodied and nicely framed by acidic lift and very fine-grained, refreshingly crunchy tannins, it offers an enlivening mix of ripe, zesty textures, and savory mineral finesse. Pull the cork one hour before serving—or decant for 30 minutes—and enjoy at  60 degrees in large Burgundy stems over the course of an evening. Cheers!

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Country
United States
Region
Oregon
Sub-Region
United StatesWillamette Valley
Soil
Melbourne
Farming
Certified Organic
Blend
Pinot Noir 100%
Alcohol
13.5
OAK
10% New French
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2027
Decanting
30 Minutes
Pairing
Duck Breast w/ Pomegranate Glaze

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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