Winemaker Notes
This bottling is designed to show off the inherent power that younger vines display in the Ribbon Ridge Appellation. This is wine of dark cherries and blueberries wrapped in a rose petal package. The Wadensvil clone (at some point this will likely be the best part of the vineyard) provides such a unique level of femininity and elegance to this dark, brooding and powerful wine giving it an extra level of interest, complexity and length. The wine displays the firm, ripe tannins one would expect from this bottling and the vintage gives it a certain flamboyance and ripeness that the overall impression is of a well-focused Pinot Noir with a dark side to it that in certain parts of its aging in your cellar will come out in different ways. This should be a fascinating wine for years to come.
"Dark red. Deep kirsch and dark berry aromas, with pungent herbs and incense gaining power with air. Rich, fleshy and expansive, with sweet, spicy dark fruit flavors dominating. This benefited from aeration, becoming fresher and livelier on the long, sappy finish."
-International Wine Cellar
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.