LORING WINE COMPANY
The Wines
Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you drink!

People often ask me, "how did you come up with the label concept?". Of course, I know what they really want to ask is, "are you on crack?". OK, so the labels are a bit eccentric. I like to think that they're FUN! One thing is for sure... they're different.

The first year Norman at Cottonwood allowed me to hang out during harvest was 1997. Norman was kind enough to sell me a couple of barrels of Pinot to play around with. And in the course of "playing", I basically messed up the wine. Being the enterprising young man that I was, I found a use for the wine nonetheless - it became Christmas presents for my friends and family! The problem was I needed to come up with some "fancy" label to hide the fact that the wine was crap. Basically, I needed to make each bottle seem so special that no one would ever think of opening it. How I acheived this was to find photos from magazines that were specific to the people receiving the wine. My Mom and Sister like cats, so I got pictures of kittens. A picture of a dancer worked for my ballroom dance instructor. My buddies at work got helicopters and missiles. And so forth, and so on. But I needed something more than just the photos, something to identify the wine as being from the Loring Wine Company. So I decided to stencil LWC over them - since I was stenciling everything else (barrels, picking bins, etc). But after the stenciling, the photos still didn't seem dynamic enough. So I tore the edges. That was it!! I had my label design.

Each vintage that we produce has a different theme. While the background photos will change, as will the shape of the labels, the LWC stencil will remain constant. And hopefully you'll think they're fun!

All of our wines starting with the 2004 vintage have been sealed with a Stelvin closure.
We're committed to getting our product to you in the best possible condition,
and we feel that cork's failure rate due to TCA is unacceptable.

If you ever open an "off" or corked bottle of our wine, please contact us and we'll either get you a replacement (from the current release) or refund your purchase price.
If you're on our mailing list, you can claim credit on the next release.
THERE'S NO STATUTE OF LIMITATION ON A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT AS FAR AS WE'RE CONCERNED!

2008 VINTAGE

Shea :	Drink or Hold	Graham Family :	Drink or Hold	Keefer Ranch :	Drink or Hold
Durell :	Drink or Hold	Rosella's:	Drink or Hold	Garys' :	Drink or Hold
Brosseau :	Drink or Hold	Naylor Dry Hole :	Drink or Hold	Russell Family :	Drink or Hold
Aubaine :	Drink or Hold	Clos Pepe :	Drink or Hold	Cargasacchi :	Drink or Hold
Rancho Ontiveros :	Drink or Hold	Rancho La Vina :	Drink or Hold	Central Coast :	Drink or Hold
		Russian River :	Drink or Hold

2008 was a difficult vintage in California. The early frost destroyed a significant amount of fruit, as well as lead to some uneven ripening of the fruit that was left. We had to push ripeness levels in order to make sure that we got truely ripe fruit. Since picking decisions we so critical, and yet hard to call, we made a few mistakes. That's why for the first time ever, we've declassified some barrels into AVA designated wines. Luckily, the picks we did get right have created some of our BEST WINES EVER. Nothing like a bit of adversity to make you focus and work harder than ever before.

2008 was a perfect year in Oregon. Little to no rain allowed winemakers to pick fruit as ripe as they'd like. We chose not to push too hard, so our 2008 Shea will be plush, yet more on the elegant side as far as a Loring wine goes.

The theme for 2008 the lables is "Vineyard End Posts". We took photos of the end posts on our rows at the vineyard for this year's labels.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2007 VINTAGE

Shea :	Drink or Hold	Graham Family :	Drink or Hold	Keefer Ranch :	Drink or Hold
Durell :	Drink or Hold	Rosella's:	Drink or Hold	Garys' :	Drink or Hold
Brosseau :	Drink or Hold	Naylor Dry Hole :	Drink or Hold	Russell Family :	Drink or Hold
Aubaine :	Drink or Hold	Clos Pepe :	Drink or Hold	Cargasacchi :	Drink or Hold
		Rancho La Vina :	Drink or Hold

2007 was a great vintage in California. Low yields (as much as 40% lower than normal at some sites) lead to some deep, concentrated wines. The weather cooperated, so we were able to get big wines with relatively moderate alcohols. For the most part, these wines should be ready to go right away. Maybe a splash decant before drinking within the first year in bottle would be a good idea. In general, drink within 3-4 years - but the wines should hold well for 5-6 years. Sadly, there is no Rancho Ontiveros from 2007. A couple of really bad frosts destroyed all of the fruit.

2007 was a challenging year in Oregon. As such, our Shea isn't as plush and fruit forward as the 2006. It will require some patience, possibly 4-5 years of bottle aging before it's ready to go.

The theme for 2007 the lables is "Vineyard Gates". We took photos of the front gates or vineyard entrances for this year's labels.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2006 VINTAGE

Shea :	Drink	Graham Family :	Drink	Keefer Ranch :	Drink
Durell :	Drink	Rosella's:	Drink	Garys' :	Drink
Brosseau :	Drink	Naylor Dry Hole :	Drink	Russell Family :	Drink
Aubaine :	Drink	Clos Pepe :	Drink	Cargasacchi :	Drink
		Rancho Ontiveros :	Drink

While there's been a lot of press on how inconsistent the 2006 vintage was, we felt that our 2006s were (across the board) a huge success. The wines were a little tight on release due to slightly higher tannin levels, but in general have developed into plush and tasty Pinots. In general, drink within 4-5 years - but the wines should hold well for 6 or so years.

The theme for the 2006 labels is "Vineyard Workers". Mostly the picking crews on the morning we picked. Since these are some of the hardest working people in the world, and they are so important for the production of great wine, we felt they deserved to be the stars this time around.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2005 VINTAGE

Keefer Ranch :	Drink	Durell :	Drink	Rosella's:	Drink
Garys' :	Drink	Brosseau :	Drink	Naylor Dry Hole :	Drink
Russell Family :	Drink	Clos Pepe :	Drink	Cargasacchi :	Drink
Rancho Ontiveros :	Drink or Hold	Hungry Like the Llama :	Drink

The 2005 vintage was one of the coolest in the past decade. Yields turned out larger than expected as the clusters kept putting on weight even late into the season - which is very unusal. These two factors combined to create a vintage of lighter style, more elegant, lower alcohol wines. Along with some higher tannins and acid, these wines will probably be some of the longest lived wines we've ever made. Probably 4-5 years of bottle age wouldn't be excessive for these wines, and they made hold up for 6-7 years.

The theme for the 2005 labels is "Vineyard Photos". I know, it's the THIRD time we've done it - but there are so many new vineyards since 2000 that it was necessary.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2004 VINTAGE

Keefer Ranch :	Drink	Durell :	Drink	Rosella's:	Drink
Garys' :	Drink	Brosseau :	Drink	Naylor Dry Hole :	Drink
Clos Pepe :	Drink	Cargasacchi :	Drink	Rancho Ontiveros :	Drink
		Llama Farm :	Drink

The 2004 vintage main feature was a relentless heat spike that hit in late August. There always seems to be a heat spike each vintage that lasts for 3 or 4 days. As long as you don't panic and wait it out, the weather generally cools down, the sugars drop a bit, and things go on as normal. Not in 2004 - where the heat spike went on for weeks. That caused sugar levels to soar, and had us scrambling to pick fruit as fast as we could. We ended up with some pretty high sugar fruit, so the alcohols in 2004 were some of the highest we'd ever seen. We tried really hard to make sure our acid levels were good to help provide some balance. We think we were pretty successful at that. As such, the wines never developed that pruney, overripe characteristic. They aren't the kind of wines to age, so drinking them within 3-4 years is probably best.

The theme for the 2004 labels is "Vineyard Pets". We asked each grower to supply me with a photo of a pet or pets that they'd like to be used on the label.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2003 VINTAGE

Rosella's:	Drink	Garys' :	Drink	Brosseau :	Drink
Naylor Dry Hole :	Drink	Clos Pepe :	Drink	Cargasacchi :	Drink
Rancho Ontiveros :	Drink	The Llama	Drink

The 2003 vintage was the last of the vintages in which we were purposefully trying to make the biggest Pinots possible. The wines are super concentrated and lush - but don't have much acid. As such, they're not candidates for aging. In fact, as they have aged, they have started to fall apart. We're also seeing that some of the synthetic corks we used have caused the wines to get oxydized. If you open a bottle and feel it's off, please contact us and we'll either get you a replacement (from the current release) or refund your purchase price. If you're on our mailing list, you can claim credit on the next release.

The theme for the 2003 labels is "Vineyard Family Portrait". We asked each grower to supply me with a family photo that they'd like to be used on the label.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2002 VINTAGE

Rosella's:	Drink	Garys' :	Drink	Brosseau :	Drink
Clos Pepe :	Drink	Rancho Ontiveros :	Drink

The 2002 vintage was part of the quest to determine what it meant to pick "ripe" fruit in California. The wines wines are super concentrated and lush - but don't have much acid. As such, they're not candidates for aging. In fact, as they have aged, they have started to fall apart. We're also seeing that some of the synthetic corks we used have caused the wines to get oxydized. If you open a bottle and feel it's off, please contact us and we'll either get you a replacement (from the current release) or refund your purchase price. If you're on our mailing list, you can claim credit on the next release.

The theme for 2002 is "Vineyard Tractors". Our hommage to the unsung hero of the American Vineyard.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2001 VINTAGE

Garys' :

Drink

Clos Pepe :

Drink

Rancho Ontiveros :

Drink

The 2001 vintage was odd in that we got some pretty high sugar fruit, but the wines didn't turn out very ripe in style. Much lighter in style than the 2000 vintage wines, these wines needed some time in bottle to show their stuff. As late as 2007, they were still doing pretty well in bottle. Much less "tired" than the 2000s at that stage. We don't think there's any "up side" left to aging them further. These were the last wines we sealed with natural cork. If you open a TCA infected bottle (corked), please contact us and we'll either get you a replacement (from the current release) or refund your purchase price. If you're on our mailing list, you can claim credit on the next release.

The theme for 2001 is the "people that were responsible for growing the grapes". We wanted you to get to "know" the people behind the great fruit that we buy. We do have to apologize to Chanda Hagen, Steve Pepe, Jeff Pisoni, and Mark Pisoni - since we know they play a major day to day role in the vineyards. We'll be sure to make that up to them with some subsequent vintage.
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

2000 VINTAGE

Garys' :

Drink

Clos Pepe :

Drink

2000 was magical year in that we made way better wine than we should have been able to - being so new to the game. Just goes to show you that good fruit is the key. These wines were sealed with natural cork, so if you open a TCA infected bottle (corked), please contact us and we'll either get you a replacement (from the current release) or refund your purchase price. If you're on our mailing list, you can claim credit on the next release.

The theme for 2000 is "The Vineyard". I know, it's a repeat of 1999 - but I was new to this back then, so give me a break :)
Please click on the link above to see the labels.

1999 VINTAGE

Sharon's :

Drink

The 1999 Sharon's was the first wine I ever made - and it kinda showed. It tuned out to be OK, but nothing that spectacular. I will admit that after about 5 years of bottle age, the wine took on some interesting notes. In fact, I was served it blind one night and thought it was a Hirsch Vineyard Pinot. So maybe there's a butterfly ready to emerge! These wines were sealed with natural cork, so if you open a TCA infected bottle (corked), please contact us and we'll either get you a replacement (from the current release) or refund your purchase price. If you're on our mailing list, you can claim credit on the next release.

The theme of 1999 is "The Vineyard". We wanted people to get a feel for where the fruit came from. Plus, we thought it was a pretty spiffy photo, so we went with it.
Please click on the link above to see the label.

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