Hawks View Cellars Releases The Whales

30 Apr 2013 --- Hawk View Cellars, a private Chehalem Mountains AVA winery known for award-winning wines from growing regions along the west coast of the United States, is pleased to announce the release of the long-anticipated 2011 La Baleine. La Baleine, the Whale, is a true three-state wine showcasing the best of Hawks Views' barrel selection of Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, offering wine drinkers what few other wineries would be willing to do.

"La Baleine, affectionately called The Whale, was a wine created initially as a blending experiment by Ryan Harms, our winemaker, and presented to my late father Jack Kemp and I," said A.J. Kemp, Co-founder of Hawks View Cellars. "Ryan wanted to show the versatility of Pinot Noir and so in our 2008 tastings of Pinot Noir, he decided to create a blend of our best barrel selections of Pinot Noir and Syrah to display just that. Needless to say, we were blown away, and pronounced it a 'whale of a wine. Now this wine is our annual tribute to Dad and his focus on excellence."

"There are three differentiating factors about the La Baleine wine, the first is that it is a multistate wine, the second is that the grapes are sources from elite vineyards of each region," states Ryan Harms, winemaker at Hawks View. "And finally, while Pinot Noir is not normally blended, we at Hawks View believe that the blend of our Oregon Pinot Noir with California Syrah and Washington Cabernet create a beautiful wine full of richness and intensity."

In 2011, Hawks View made 93 barrels of red wine. The 2011 La Baleine is made from a blend of the eight best. The limited production La Baleine is 50% California Syrah from Garys' Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands, 25% Washington Cabernet Sauvignon from The Benches Vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills, and 25% estate-grown Oregon Pinot Noir from Hawks View Vineyard.

Aged in 40% new French oak and 60% once-filled barrels, the 2011 Hawks View Cellars La Baleine offers aromas of blackberry preserve, cherries, chocolate, and smoke. It was bottled in early April of 2013. The opulent wine showcases blackberry, raspberry and chocolate with a long, broad finish. The Hawks View 2011 La Baleine retails for $48 per bottle with only 200 total cases produced.