McKinlay Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2007
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This 07 shows what a skilled winemaker who knows his vineyard can do in a difficult vintage. Matt's super value Pinot has bright berry and red cherry fruit with just a tiny hint of spice. The wine opens up in your mouth and shows hints of spice and a hint of cream. You can sip this wine, and pair with foods from pizza to turkey to lamb. Matt is truly a very talented vintner.
Regularly noted for his elegant, Burgundian style, Matt is a firm believer in making his wines in the vineyard. His vines are dry farmed in well drained, volcanic soil and the shoots are trained upward, for optimal sun exposure and ventilation. Only one cluster is allowed to form on each shoot. Unsurprisingly, production is extremely low, with a focus rather on depth and concentration of flavor.
Matt believes in then letting the fruit speak for itself, exhorting Pinot Noir's ability to "Express itself in such a confident and understated form. Pinot Noir at its finest is red, not black; freshly fragrant; richly and brightly flavored with complexity and length."
The wines he produces are a beautiful expression of this ideal. They are fermented with native yeasts, lightly aged in no more than 25% new oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Or as Matt would put it: "The winemaker's hand is light to balance, not mute these attributes and promote the purest possible expression a vineyard has to offer."
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
The potential of Willamette Valley Pinot noir continues to attract the investment of serious growers and winemakers both locally and from abroad, as naturally the finished wines bring accolades from professionals and enthusiasts. With a range of styles from delicate dried cherry, raspberry and hibiscus to stronger notes of truffle, mocha, plum and spice, a fine Willamette Valley Pinot noir is a perfect expression of both character and grace.