Virtual Wine Tasting featuring Brittan Vineyards with Special Guest Robert Brittan

"The First Duty of wine is to be Red...the second is to be a Burgundy"
 Harry Waugh

On Wednesday, May 5th we have Robert Brittan here with us and will be tasting through all 5 wines that are available here in South Florida.  Robert was at Stags’ Leap Winery for 16 years until his wife Ellen and he decided to make the move to the Willamette Valley to focus on their own label featuring Pinot Noir, Syrah and Chardonnay.  Join us as we welcome Robert on Wednesday, May 5th at 6pm EST.  We will be showing the five wines below and you can buy them individually or in this 5pk.

For those that would like to attend in person and be part of the studio audience on the day of the event the price is $55 + tax and there are only 10 seats available to our studio audience the day of the tasting.  There will be a few small bites served but this is not a dinner.  For reservations to be part of the studio audience please call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Virtual Wine Tasting featuring Brittan Vineyards
with Special Guest Robert Brittan
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
6:00 PM

Virtual Tasting 5pack for Brittan Winery - Wine Watch
Price: $247.50

2018 Brittan Vineyards Estate Chardonnay McMinnville
Price: $45.00       Your Price: $39.60           

TASTING NOTES The nose of our 2018 Chardonnay, the first vintage sourced exclusively from the estate, draws you in with a stylish flintiness and aromas of sweet Meyer lemon, pea tendrils, and a hint of honeysuckle. Scents of Asian pear carry through to the palate, mingling with lemon curd, yellow peach, and brioche. This sleek, taut, acid driven wine evolves in the glass and will continue to develop with cellaring.
VINEYARD NOTES The Brittan Vineyard lies just 12 miles southwest of McMinnville, tucked into the foothills of the Coastal Range. The original 18 acres were planted in 2001, but due to the challenging nature of this site and limited topsoil, only eight acres survived. Since 2004 when Robert and Ellen purchased the vineyard, it has been an ongoing rehabilitation project: replanting, retraining, and learning the unique landscape that has become Brittan Vineyard.
VINTAGE NOTES The 2018 vintage started cool and wet in February and March, which led to a more “normal” budbreak in April. The season quickly accelerated and was warm and dry beginning in May. Summer brought very warm, dry weather through August, which put pressure on the vines and produced fruit of great depth and concentration. September was dry but more moderate and allowed the fruit to reach full maturity by the end of the month.
BOTTLED:AUGUST 2019 CASES PRODUCED:580

2017 Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate McMinnville
Price: $45.00       Your Price: $39.60
TASTING NOTES Our new Estate Pinot noir allows us the opportunity to create a wine that is indicative of the whole vineyard, blending diverse elements from across the hillside. Aromas of Montmorency cherry, savory dried herbs and baking spices give way to pomegranate, marionberry and pie cherries on the palate. The wine flows seamlessly across the palate with silky tannins framed by fresh acidity and minerality.
VINEYARD NOTES The Brittan Vineyard lies just 12 miles southwest of McMinnville, tucked into the foothills of the Coastal Range. The original 18 acres were planted in 2001, but due to the challenging nature of this site and limited topsoil, only eight acres survived. Since 2004 when Robert and Ellen purchased the vineyard, it has been an ongoing rehabilitation project: replanting, retraining, and learning the unique landscape that has become Brittan Vineyard.
VINTAGE NOTES Akin to the prior three vintages, 2017 provided a consistently warm growing season for the vines at our estate vineyard, resulting in generous (for us) average yields approaching two tons per acre. Springtime flowering and fruit set, while delayed by a cool and wet winter, were even across the blocks and dry conditions at harvest meant little to no pressure from disease. The resulting wines are full bodied yet retain the mineral notes and taut core of acidity that have become the hallmarks of Brittan Vineyards.
PRODUCTION NOTES The fruit for the 2017 vintage was picked in late September and early October, and allowed to cold soak for five days before fermentation began. The wine was aged in French oak, 15% new, for 12 months.
BOTTLED:DECEMBER 2018 CASES PRODUCED:517

2017 Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir Basalt Block McMinnville
List Price: $63.75               Your Price: $56.10
TASTING NOTES With a nose of dark, sweet fruit, fresh fennel, anise, tobacco, breakfast tea, sandalwood and wet stone, the 2017 edition of our Basalt Block Pinot noir is true to form. Notes of dark cherry, blackberry, cola, sweet spice and minerality on the palate lead to a long, bright and crisp finish.
VINEYARD NOTES The Brittan Vineyard lies just 12 miles southwest of McMinnville, tucked into the foothills of the Coastal Range. The original 18 acres were planted in 2001, but due to the challenging nature of this site and limited topsoil, only eight acres survived. Since 2004 when Robert and Ellen Brittan purchased the vineyard, it has been an ongoing rehabilitation project: replating, retraining and learning the unique landscape that has become the Brittan Vineyard. The Pinot noir for the Basalt Block predominately consists of the Pommard selection, blended with clonal selecions 667, 777, 115 and Swan. The vines are planted on Riparia Gloire, 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks.
VINTAGE NOTES Akin to the prior three vintages, 2017 provided a consistently warm growing season for the vines at our estate vineyard, resulting in generous (for us) average yields approaching two tons per acre. Springtime flowering and fruit set, while delayed by a cool and wet winter, were even across the blocks and dry conditions at harvest meant little to no pressure from disease. The resulting wines are full bodied yet retain the mineral notes and taut core of acidity that have become the hallmarks of Brittan Vineyards.
PRODUCTION NOTES The fruit for the 2017 vintage was picked in late September and early October. The wine was aged in French oak, 15% new, for 12 months. BOTTLED:DECEMBER 2018 CASES PRODUCED:343

2017 Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir Cygnus Block McMinnville
Price: $63.75       Your Price: $56.10
TASTING NOTES The trademark red fruits of Cygnus Block Pinot noir are in good supply this vintage, including the bright sweetness of red currants, Amarena cherries, red plum and a hint of raspberry alongside more savory notes like black tea, bergamot, licorice, and baking spices. The wine wraps-up with bright acidity, lingering juiciness, and a long, elegant finish
VINEYARD NOTES The Brittan Vineyard lies just 12 miles southwest of McMinnville, tucked into the foothills of the Coastal Range. The original 18 acres were planted in 2001, but due to the challenging nature of this site and limited topsoil, only eight acres survived. Since 2004 when Robert and Ellen Brittan purchased the vineyard, it has been an ongoing rehabilitation project: replating, retraining and learning the unique landscape that has become the Brittan Vineyard. The three acre, southeast facing Cygnus Block was planted in 2008 to Swan selection, a selection of Pinot noir they believe was brought in from Burgundy around the 1880s and planted in California.
VINTAGE NOTES Akin to the prior three vintages, 2017 provided a consistently warm growing season for the vines at our estate vineyard, resulting in generous (for us) average yields approaching two tons per acre. Springtime flowering and fruit set, while delayed by a cool and wet winter, were even across the blocks and dry conditions at harvest meant little to no pressure from disease. The resulting wines are full bodied yet retain the mineral notes and taut core of acidity that have become the hallmarks of Brittan Vineyards.
BOTTLED:DECEMBER 2018 CASES PRODUCED:260

2017 Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir Gestalt Block McMinnville
Price: $63.75       Your Price: $56.10
TASTING NOTES In typical fashion, the 2017 Gestalt Block Pinot noir fully expresses the savory side of Brittan Vineyards. Tobacco, pea shoots, five-spice, licorice, gunpowder and flint show up alongside rich black plum, blackberry, dark cherry and black currant. This is a phenolic, tannin-driven wine with a long, complex and savory finish.
VINEYARD NOTES The Brittan Vineyard lies just 12 miles southwest of McMinnville, tucked into the foothills of the Coastal Range. The original 18 acres were planted in 2001, but due to the challenging nature of this site and limited topsoil, only eight acres survived. Since 2004 when Robert and Ellen Brittan purchased the vineyard, it has been an ongoing rehabilitation project: replating, retraining and learning the unique landscape that has become the Brittan Vineyard. The Gestalt Block Pinot noir comes from the part of the vineyard that is more southwest facing and atop younger, more compact intrusion basalts. It takes the brunt of the wind that blows across the vineyard, resulting in a wine with structure and fine acidity. The selections of Pinot noir planted in this block include 777, 667 and 115.
VINTAGE NOTES Akin to the prior three vintages, 2017 provided a consistently warm growing season for the vines at our estate vineyard, resulting in generous (for us) average yields approaching two tons per acre. Springtime flowering and fruit set, while delayed by a cool and wet winter, were even across the blocks and dry conditions at harvest meant little to no pressure from disease. The resulting wines are full bodied yet retain the mineral notes and taut core of acidity that have become the hallmarks of Brittan Vineyards.
PRODUCTION NOTES The fruit for the 2017 vintage was picked in early October. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak, 27% new.
BOTTLED:DECEMBER 2018 CASES PRODUCED:276

Wine Watch invites you to participate live on ZOOM at 6pm EST on the 5th of May, simply click the link below at 6pm and you will be admitted to the party.
Andrew Lampasone is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Virtual Wine Tasting featuring Brittan Winery with Special Guest Robert Brittan
Time: May 5, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

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A bit about Brittan Vineyards:

It took years to find the ideal site on which to grow Pinot Noir but after an exhaustive search, Brittan Vineyards began on an 128-acre hillside in Oregon in December 2004. The soils are a mixture of glacial deposits and volcanic material, with a predominant presence of broken basalt.
At that time, there were 18 acres of existing vines. However, close to 50% has subsequently been re-planted in order to fine-tune the viticultural practices and improve the clonal and rootstock combinations. This included one of the first plantings of the Swan clonal selection of Pinot Noir in Oregon.
After dropping all of the crop in 2005 to allow the vines to get better established, the first two Pinot Noirs from the mature vines on the property came from the 2006 vintage, a total of 720 cases.
In the spring of 2008, an additional 3.5 acres of Pinot Noir were planted, which are now in production— the rocky soils and low water retention often means that it takes five years for a vine to get into production.
In addition to the Pinot, 4 acres of Chardonnay and 1.5 acres of Syrah have been planted. These are two varietals that benefit greatly from a cool growing climate.

“We have east, south and west exposures to choose from on a cool, windy site on the edge of the Coastal Range. As a result, I believe I have found a site where I can grow unique wines, wines that truly speak of this place.” - Robert Brittan

Robert Brittan left Stags’ Leap Winery in Napa after 16 years as Winemaker and Estate Manager to fulfill his dream of making Pinot Noir and Syrah from unique sites in cooler climates. His winemaking career began in his dorm room at Oregon State University, where he was a physics and philosophy major.
Being both geeky and broke, he soon realized that alcohol was an attractant to co-eds, so he began his career in fermentation sciences in order to get a date. He ultimately completed his education at UC Davis and moved to Napa Valley, where he made wines for Far Niente, Saint Andrews and Stags’ Leap Winery.
With 45 years of experience growing grapes and making wine, he brings a significant amount of viticultural and winemaking knowledge to Brittan Vineyards. He has always had a passion for Pinot Noir, and hopes that with the fruit from the Brittan estate vineyard in the foothills of the Coastal Range, he can bring a new voice to the McMinnville AVA, and help form the style and definition of Pinot Noir from this recently designated winegrowing region.
In addition to his own wines, Robert is also the winemaker for several other brands, to include: deLancellotti, Fairsing and Winderlea. As a result, Robert is now making wines from all six of the sub-AVA’s of the Willamette Valley and has learned first hand that Pinot Noir lends itself to many wonderful interpretations, depending on the soils and microclimates where it is grown.

Ellen has always had a passion for food and wine, so after spending the first twenty years of her career working in Financial Services, she finally decided to give up the corporate world to do something she would do even if she didn’t get paid to do it.
After working in a lovely little family winery in Yountville, she joined Rudd Winery in Oakville, where she had the wonderful opportunity to launch and manage a new luxury wine brand for Leslie Rudd. In the course of her ten years with the Rudd Group, she also was involved in the group’s other food and spirits related projects, to include Dean & DeLuca, Edge Hill Winery, Distillery No. 209, PRESS Restaurant and Oakville Grocery. It was a dream come true to be immersed in a world of gourmet food and luxury wine and spirits.
Having grown up in Seattle, studying French and Spanish Language & Literature at the University of Washington, she longed to return to her North West roots, so needless to say she was thrilled to be joint owner of the beautiful Brittan Vineyards winery in McMinnville.
While Robert oversees the vineyard and winemaking, Ellen manages the business operations for Brittan Vineyards.  In addition, Ellen has worked as General Manager for the Carlton Winemakers’ Studio and as the Director of Wine Education at Linfield College.  In order to give back to a wine community that has been so welcoming and supportive, she has also served as Chair of the Oregon Wine Board, President of the Oregon Winegrowers’ Association, and Chair of the International Pinot Noir Celebration.  She currently sits on the board of Visit McMinnville and is a member of the Linfield Wine Education Advisory Council.