St. Innocent Winery was founded in 1988 by winemaker Mark Vlossak. Known for producing small lots of handmade, vineyard-designated wine from top sites in the Willamette Valley, the winery currently makes up to 10,000 cases per year of about a dozen wines combined. Believing that great wine starts in the vineyard, Mark practices sustainable, organic and biodynamic farming in each of the sites they harvest, and he strives to express the unique terroir of each vineyard, much in the way the Burgundians handle Pinot Noir. This Pinot is from Shea Vineyard which produces a classic expression of Pinot Noir. Made from 100% destemmed grapes then aged for 16 months in 32% new French oak barrels, the 2009 was bottled by gravity without fining.

Winemaker Mark Vlossak's notes: 'The Shea 2009 has aromas of deep red fruits with sweet floral highlights and hints of sweet caramel. Big ripe fruits dominate the entry onto the palate followed by sweet spices, summer flowers and hints of dried red flowers into the finish. This is a wine that begins with immense sweet fruit and then adds layers of dense complexity that carry into the finish with a solid backbone of tannins. Its concentration and solid structure will allow it to evolve slowly for up to ten years. It is especially good with lamb, duck and other game birds.'

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