LIMITED OFFER: Quaintrelle | Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Ribbon Ridge

Quaintrelle: {n.} a woman who emphasizes a life of passion, expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm, and cultivation of life’s pleasures.

Hello Berserkers! Thanks for taking a moment to learn a little about us.

Our Story
When this project began, the intention was simply to play and learn. My family has been making wine in the Willamette Valley for over 25 years, founding and running Brick House Vineyards, where I am the Assistant Winemaker. In 2014, my uncle offered me the opportunity to buy a small amount of fruit from our farm and begin “to learn how to cook” so to speak. How grapes become wine is a beguiling transformation and it is a marvel to watch.

My aunt says “choosing to farm is choosing humility.” A lesson learned in earnest when I began caring for the “Triangle” in 2018. This half-acre of Dijon 115 planted in 1995 sits atop the northwest corner of Brick House Vineyard. Over the past three years, it has afforded me further opportunity to play and learn. Raised in barrel for fifteen months, the 2018 Quaintrelle Pinot Noir is anchored in this block. A lighter bodied, food-friendly and flirtatious expression of Pinot Noir.

The meaning of the word “Quaintrelle” inspires these wines. I have found that one’s journey in life, like the soil and the vines, requires cultivation along the way. It is my sincere hope that a bottle of Quaintrelle will find place at your table and bring you the joy I found in making it.


The Wine
Harvested September 19th, 2018, all the fruit was destemmed. We began with a three-day cold soak followed by a native yeast fermentation. After a thirty day total maceration, the young wine was then racked to two neutral barrels. Unfined, unfiltered and with a little Pommard blended in, we hope the beauty of this vineyard comes through in your glass.

75 cases produced
13.5% ABV
$38 Retail

The Offer
By way of introduction to the Wine Berserker community, We have put together a discounted three pack of our almost sold out 2018.

2018 Quaintrelle Pinot Noir, Ribbon Ridge
3 bottles for $91.20

This is a 20% discount from the normal retail price of $38.

Due to waning inventory, only 12 offers are available at this price. Limit 1 offer per Berserker.

How To Purchase

Enter Code WB20

Email sav@quaintrellewines.com with any issues or questions!

And lastly, thank you for being such an engaged community supporting projects like ours!

(Photo: Our friend crew that picked the 2020 Triangle block)

What Others Are Saying:
Two Berserkers tasted my wine and were kind enough to post notes. You can view them in the thread below. Here are what some others have said:

“2018 Quaintrelle Pinot Noir - Pretty and highly vibrant with a great veil of tension, the 2018 Quaintrelle Pinot Noir shows off pretty red rose water with orange rind and red cherry candy on the nose. The palate is fresh, vibrant and silky with soft tannins that line the great core of guava, teaberry and red raspberry. Earthy undertones add to the enjoyment here. Drink 2021-2031- 92” – OwenBargreen.com

“Tasted over three days. Pulled the cork and loved it! On the light, elegant, indeed, sophisticated side of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Charming textural range, suave mouthfeel, enchanting finish. Tremendous expression of place, including organic and biodynamic farming. Perfect extraction, precision, and balance! Bravo Savannah! Very young, and it needs time to integrate. No less than three to five years in the cellar will prove rewarding. 92-93.” – Motz (2017 vintage, via Cellartracker)

I was fortunate enough to receive a sample bottle of 2018 Quaintrelle Pinot Noir. To pay it forward, I invited two of my wine buddies to taste with me.

Quaintrelle is a project of Savannah Mills, the Assistant Winemaker at Brick House Wines. Savannah makes her wine from a small plot in the Brick House Vineyard, located in Oregon’s Ribbon Ridge. Nearby producers include Trisateum and Ayers. The wine is mostly Dijon 115 clone with a bit of Pommard.
tempImage8evMKM.gif
Bottle Preparation
The wine arrived about 2 weeks ago and was immediately stored upright in my passive basement cellar. On the night of the tasting, I opened the bottle (DIAM 10 cork) and let it slow ox for 60 minutes. It was then decanted for 45 minutes. The wine was initially tasted at just under 62 degrees and warmed up to about 66 degrees.

Color
The color was a youthful shade of ruby, somewhere between medium and pale. The wine is unfiltered and unfined, but we did not notice any haziness or sediment.

Nose
It’s always nice when a wine makes me want to go to the kitchen and bring out a bunch of spices. We all thought the nose had an appealing breadth. We got dried blackberry, black cherry and other darker fruits. A hint of red fruit as well, perhaps pomegranate? On the spice side, we got an inscrutable blend of thyme, rosemary, nutmeg, a hint of black pepper, maybe a hint of cinnamon. One thing we did not get was funkiness, dirt, or mushroom characteristics. I’m not sure if those barnyard-y notes will develop with age.

Palate
There was more dark fruit on the palate, again with a hint of red fruit. We liked the prickly acidity that went from stem to stern. There was no bitterness as the acid and tannin lingered on the medium-length finish. The Quaintrelle notes allude to the wine being on the lighter side, but that is more in terms of brightness and acidity, vibrancy. The mouthfeel itself is a hair shy of medium bodied.

Finish
The initial first sips revealed no tannins. When they did appear (about 2 oz in), the tannins were bright and vibrant. I don’t normally associate “tannins” with “bright” but what I mean is there was nothing that would made me want to clench my throat or grit my teeth. The acidity showed up as tartness and was moderately quenching. The finish was medium in length. Two tasters noticed a bit of ash and tobacco on the finish, but nothing bitter. We thought the wine could be aged for a few years to see how it develops.

Food Pairings
This is where the wine showed best. It wants food. It is very versatile and would pair with all sorts of lighter fare. We tasted it with roast chicken, fresh bread, and stuffed mushrooms. You could also serve it with pork loin, fish (no butter sauces), and fowl. I would avoid red meat or cayenne-type spices.

Overall Impressions
Overall, we liked this wine. It was refreshing and very good with food. It falls into a tweener category of holding one’s interest, but not so much that one needs to put on their “serious wine taster” hat. It was nice to take an academic approach to the wine, but I’d have no problem popping a bottle right before dinner.

The accompanying tech sheet said the wine is “…intended to be a lighter bodied, food-friendly and flirtatious expression of Pinot Noir…” and I would say the wine lived up to this expectation.

Would I Buy?
Yes. My Pinot collection is lacking this type of wine. I think the NewbiePalooza offer is good and hope it doesn’t sell out before I get a chance to purchase.

I was lucky enough to be selected to be a taster for the 2018 Quaintrelle Pinot Noir. I brought it down with me on a trip this past weekend to open up and taste with a buddy of mine. As soon as I arrived at his house, he pulled out the Zaltos and I popped and poured. The nose was quite muted and I could only distinguish the slightest bit of raspberry. The palate also seemed kind of muted - I could detect some raspberry as well, but that was about it. The wine was medium acidity, with medium alcohol and a short finish, with no other discernable notes other than the hint of raspberry. We let it sit for 15 minutes or so and occasionally tasted it to check for evolution - hoping some air might open it up. While we waited, we opened a different producer of pinot noir from Oregon of the same 2018 vintage. We wanted to confirm we weren’t having issues smelling and indeed, that bottle was quite aromatic. We continued to drink/taste the Quaintrelle over the next hour, but unfortunately, it did not evolve at all. That being said, this wine is a very easy drinker - something akin to a Bourgogne rouge from a good producer. For the price, I’d reach for it on a weeknight when I wanted a casual glass of wine.

OUR FIRST LIMITED OFFER IS LIVE NOW!

Get it while you can!

Thanks Todd! We’re excited to be here!

That’s too bad. The nose was our favorite part! I agree with you on the Bourgogne rouge comparison.

115 with a little Pommard is always fun. 30 days of total vatting time kinda makes me swoon. You all should pony up for these wines too!

Disclaimer: I think the world of Savannah.

1 Like

Back atcha Todd!

1 Like

I tried to pick up a 3 pack earlier. Gave me an error message. Either its was sold out or something was wrong. I sent a PM. with details.

Oh no! I don’t see the PM - drop me a line @ sav@quaintrellewines.com. I just looked and it was working fine. Make sure it is the 2018 - this offer does not apply to the 2014 on the site. Thank you!

Based on the BR comparison, I would love to try the wines if I lived closer! Shipping is just too prohibitive out here for 3 bottles. :frowning:

Thx, I just tried again from home and it went through as advertised. Work has some weird effects on things, luckily I made it in. [cheers.gif]

Welcome to WB, Savannah! Nice job! Hi to David!

IN … [cheers.gif]