Roco - Gravel Road Pinot Noir NV (750ml)

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Price: $29.99

6+ Price: $28.99 / btl

12+ Price: $27.99 /btl

Producer	Roco
Country	United States
Region	Oregon
Varietal	Pinot Noir
Sku	107298
Size	750ml
ABV	14.00%

Roco Description

In 1987, Rollin Soles purchased a breathtaking hillside property down a gravel road in the Chehalem Mountain Range. The property’s perfect combination of elevation, soil type, natural springs, and geological aspect were the seed of a dream that would eventually become ROCO Winery.

For nearly fifteen years, the Soles’ property remained a mostly wild landscape used for a variety of farming endeavors. Rollin was making wine at Argyle, his previous venture, and Corby was busy serving in a number of executive positions in the Oregon wine industry. But as the years wore on, the property’s southwestern exposure and diverse soils begged for the Soles to realize their dream: a vineyard of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sloping toward the creek below, the Chehalem Valley beyond, and Oregon’s Coast Range in the distance.

In 2001, Rollin and Corby planted Wits’ End Vineyard and began bringing the idea of ROCO to fruition. Two years later, they produced their first vintage of Private Stash Pinot Noir—showcasing the very best of Rollin’s small-lot winemaking skills in a bottle that was eventually served in the White House. Building on their success, in 2009, the Soles built ROCO its own winery and added a tasting room in 2012. In 2013, Rollin expanded Wits’ End Vineyard and transitioned to full-time focus on ROCO to keep pace with its growing prestige and demand.

Today, Wits’ End Vineyard remains the heart and soul of ROCO wines. ROCO Private Stash and Wits’ End Vineyard Pinot Noirs derive exclusively from these vines—and serve as Rollin and Corby’s testament to the beauty of place, their devotion to family and friends, and their commitment to Oregon winemaking at its finest.
Born and raised in Texas, Rollin has been making exemplary Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Oregon for the last three decades. Those close to him know him as a painstaking practitioner of the winemaking craft, with an exceptional eye for detail in harvesting, crushing, and fermentation. And the results are in.

Rollin’s wines have been named among the Top 100 Wines of the World by Wine Spectator thirteen times, a distinction matched by no other Oregon winemaker. His very first ROCO vintage was poured in the White House. And in 2013, he was named one of the “20 Most Admired Winemakers in North America” by Vineyard & Winery Management magazine.

Rollin made his way to Oregon after winemaking stints in California, Switzerland, Washington, and Australia. Once in the Willamette Valley, he co-founded the prestigious Argyle winery and led its winemaking program for twenty-five years. In 2001, along with his wife Corby Stonebraker-Soles, he set out on a new path with the founding of ROCO Winery and the planting of its estate Wits’ End Vineyard. Today, ROCO is his full time work.

Rollin received a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Texas A&M and a master’s degree in enology and viticulture at the University of California at Davis. His deep scientific background along with an abiding love of research and learning allows him to consistently unlock the potential of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes and raise the bar for what Oregon wine can be.

Several lush and complex aromatics fill the nose upon inhale including rose petals, ripe loganberry, a rich vanilla spice framed by rich forest floor aromas. For flavor consider, lovely elegant fruit with spice and enough acidity to cause this wine to dance on your tongue. Persistent red fruit and loganberry give a “sweet” lift to this classic cool climate Pinot noir. The finish sails on a “deck” of rich cherry fruit, lovely earth tones,

As if it was written in the Planets (Jupiter and Saturn), ROCO Gravel Road Pinot Noir NV is a conjunction of the 2019 and 2020 vintage. This nonvintage Pinot Noir truly is "greater than the sum of its parts." The elegant poise of the 2019 vintage is layered with a minority of the robust concentration of 2020’s personality. The deft combination of these two very different vintages has revealed a masterful expression of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.

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