David Polite is a man of many titles. He is also an attorney by trade, a staunch Yamhill County resident, a conservative winemaker, a self-taught farmer, a natural salesman, an avid croquet player, a zealous community activist and, in his words, a genius. On a recent visit to taste with the owner and winemaker of Yamhill-Carlton’s Carlton Hill Vineyard in Carlton, Oregon, I learned firsthand of Polite’s list of sobriquets and even more candid (and often explicit) opinions. Each one more golden than the last.
After getting lost on a mile-long gravel road that leads to Polite’s home-vineyard-winery combo, he immediately cut the crap from behind a loaded tobacco pipe. “Great Pinot Noir is grown in the field,” Polite says. “I just have to not f— it up.” In 1991, Polite left New York City, moved west to buy a six-acre farm (which has since grown to 11 acres) and planted exclusively Pinot Noir several years later. The catch-and-release fly fisherman has made sure his vineyard practices were up-to-date as well, including certifications for both Salmon Safe and LIVE (Low-Input Viticulture and Enology).
“I’m not so nutty about making wine,” Polite says. “My drive is what I can do with my fruit.” What he does with his fruit is minimal and does not vary from vintage to vintage. Production is virtually the same each harvest—fruit is handpicked, cold soaked and whole cluster fermented with native yeast. The barrel treatment has the wine usually aging for less than a year with 20-25 percent in new French oak, while the rest remains in neutral.
For the 2008 vintage, Polite admits it was a personal favorite of his. “The vintage spoke… The whole thing was perfect.” He’s not far off—his 2008 Estate Pinot Noir, now with years in the bottle, is just as complex and layered as Polite himself. Red brambly fruits of raspberry and currants rush the nose with mineral-rich aromatics and spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and cedar smoke. The palate is generous but mature, offering layer after layer of red fruits, earth and spice, tied up nicely with acid and subtle tannins.
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