2008 Roserock Pinot Noir Scores 95 Points
Wine Spectator has given 95 or more points to only 18 Pinot Noir bottlings in Oregon’s history. Only three Oregon Pinots have ever scored better than 95, one with 96 and two with 97 points. The average price of those three Pinots was about $80. By contrast, the release price of our Roserock was $55.
Roserock Vineyard is perched on a ridge towards the southern end of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. In cooperation with our winemakers and viticulturists, Roserock grows fruit to our specifications. During the growing season, ocean breezes push through the Van Duzer Corridor in the Coastal Range maintaining a consistently cool climate that is the hallmark of all great Pinot Noir winegrowing regions. Shallow, well-drained volcanic soils of the Nekia series dominate this area. Roserock is LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon Safe Certified. The 2008 Roserock Pinot Noir aged for 15 months in 87% new French oak barrels.
Photos from the 2012 King Estate Crab Fest
King Estate’s 3rd Annual Crab Fest consisted of 11 seatings over 4 weekends and featured unlimited Dungeness Crab and Pinot Gris. Dungeness Crab is a seafood delicacy that thrives in the ocean off the Pacific Northwest Coast. The best crab is available in the middle of winter at the peak of harvest, and is a perfect pairing with our Pinot Gris. The menu consisted of steamed Dungeness Crab, assorted flavored butters and aioli, chunky wild mushroom and yukon potato chowder, German potato salad, Russian black kale with roasted garlic, cabbage slaw, Tobi’s Famous Corn Bread, and assorted desserts from The Bakery at King Estate. Over the course of the event over 3000 pounds of Dungeness Crab was served.
Did you miss out this year? Don’t worry, we host this event every weekend of January, so keep an eye out for next year. Crab Fest sells out quickly, so join our mailing list for a reminder and other King Estate updates and event information.
VIDEO: King Estate 2011 Harvest, Our Twentieth Vintage!
2011, though challenging in many ways, appears to be a year of above average-fruit quality. The vines bore a lot of fruit, and with the late season it became worrisome that all the fruit would ripen, so measures needed to be taken. In a late year like 2010 and 2011, we really ride the razor’s edge, waiting with bated breath to see how ripe the fruit can get before the rainy season begins. In an effort to ensure that fruit fully ripens, it is often necessary to cluster thin, dropping clusters of otherwise perfect grapes in order to ensure that fewer clusters fully ripen and develop concentrated flavors. Often cluster thinning enhances the character and concentration of flavors in the remaining grapes since the vines are stressed and have less fruit to focus their energy on. In the end, the harvest at our 470 acre certified organic vineyard at King Estate can be characterized as a year of lower than typical yields but high quality. It is always a difficult decision to drop so much fruit on the ground, and it comes at a great economic expense, but it is also the only decision if you want to improve quality, harvest good fruit, and ultimately make the best wine possible in a challenging year. The goal is to overcome whatever obstacles are presented to make the best wine we can.
With Rack Construction Complete, Solar Panel Installation Begins
The King Estate solar power project has entered another phase. Bare metal racks are quickly disappearing as workers cover them with high-tech panels that will soon be able to generate energy from the sun.
Read more about the King Estate Solar Vineyard
Excellence of Oregon's 2010 Vintage Reflected in our Signature Pinot Noir
“The 2010 Pinot Noir Signature Collection was tasted from a barrel sample. It displays a more expressive bouquet … excellent depth and concentration, ripe red and black fruit flavors, and a medium-long finish. It reflects the excellence of the 2010 vintage.” – Dr. Jay Miller, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
King Estate Organic Buena Vista Lavender Harvest & Distillation
We are best known for our exceptional wines (obviously), but we also grow and harvest exceptional organic lavender. Garden manager Jessie Russell and her crew care for more than ¾ of an acre of lavender. Varieties include white ‘Cape Blanco,’ a small crop of ‘Provence,’ and our most prevalent variety, ‘Buena Vista.’ ’Buena Vista’ was developed by Dr. Don Roberts, a retired professor from OSU and a lavender farmer himself. It is an exceptional varietal of lavender. Roberts distills the organic King Estate lavender at Premier Botanicals in Independence, Oregon.
This year, the estate produced 3.25 gallons of essential lavender oil which we will use to make lotion, soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and of course essential oil. You can shop for our estate lavender products by clicking here or by visiting the King Estate visitor center.
Watch the video to take a closer look at the lavender harvest and distillation processes:
The King Estate iPhone App is Now Available for Download!
The new King Estate iPhone app is now available on Apple’s iTunes app store. The app is full of rich features like our wine locator tool that will help you find our wines for sale nearby based on your current location or in a given zip code. You can also use it to stay connected to the winery via social media, or by keeping up with our blog, videos, and photos. There are recipes, information on our wines, and even full e-commerce for convenient online shopping, all without leaving the comfort of the app! Use the calendar to see what events we have coming up, and add them to your own iPhone, iTouch, or iPad calendar with the click of a button. You can even use it to make reservations for our restaurant. And that’s all just the tip of the iceberg, explore for yourself and see what else you can find. Give it a download, take it for a spin, and write a review if you feel so inclined!
Acrobat Pinot Gris is Wine Spectator's Wine of the Week!
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Announcing the 1MW Solar Vineyard at King Estate Winery
King Estate is teaming up with SolarCity, a national leader in solar power, as well as Lane Electric Co-op, and Advanced Energy Systems to install the largest solar power system at a winery in the Pacific Northwest. Construction on the 973.84 kilowatt (kW) solar system began this month.
Five years in the making, this is a very exciting time for the winery, the culmination of a lot of hard work between us and our partners in this project. This installation is a collaboration between King Estate and Advanced Energy Systems, which developed the project; SolarCity, which provided financing and integration support; and Lane Electric as the utility partner. The system’s 4,144 solar panels on about 4 acres of land should eliminate more than 38 million pounds of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years. According to estimates provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, this amount is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 3,381 passenger cars or 1.9 million gallons of gasoline. The King Estate solar power system is large enough to offset the annual power usage of approximately 100 residential homes.
King Estate Caters the 8th Annual FOOD for Lane County Empty Bowls Dinner & Auction
This year, King Estate had the pleasure of catering the 8th Annual FOOD for Lane County Empty Bowls Dinner & Auction which took place Saturday evening, October 1, in the FOOD for Lane County warehouse. Storage docks that normally hold boxes of food were transformed into a harvest fair complete with shops replete with colorful awnings and stocked with auction items for all to see and bid on. A live auction was conducted in between dinner courses in the dining area, where guests had the chance to win trips to Hawaii and Mexico, Oregon sunstone jewelry, season passes to the Bach Festival, and lots of other exciting packages. Watch the video below that played before the meal to get a closer look at the 5 course menu King Estate prepared and meet some of the farmers that supplied ingredients.