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Drouhin launches affordable Oregon label in UK
Domaine Drouhin Oregon is looking to sell its Cloudline brand in the UK market.
Consisting of a Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from the Southern Oregon AVA, the label is intended to offer a more affordable taste of the region’s flagship grapes.
The wine was initially developed for distributors Dreyfus, Ashby & Company in the US but Maison Joseph Drouhin’s head winemaker, Véronique Boss-Drouhin would like to see the wine more widely sold.
“I think it’s a beautiful example of Pinot Noir that’s not from Burgundy,” she told the drinks business, “and we are just starting to show it outside the US.”
Cloudline was first brought to the US market in 2005. “We had 3,000 cases and it sold out in two weeks,” recalled Boss-Drouhin. “Now we make 40,000 cases and it still sells out in the US.”
A Pinot Gris, closed under screwcap, has recently been added to the range.
The wines retail for $20 in the US market and Boss-Drouhin said, “It makes a perfect by the glass listing.”
As for the wines from Drouhin’s own estate in Oregon, Boss-Drouhin recorded that increasing vine age is making wines that are increasingly “serious, fascinating and complex”, and helping the winemaker to discern the best plots for Pinot Noir.
Patrick Schmitt, 11.02.09