Winemaker Notes
This Pinot Noir exemplifies Oregon’s classic elegance, featuring flinty reduction and earthy minerality alongside brambly blackberry and raspberry, accented by tart cranberry freshness. Subtle oak contributes hints of spice, tobacco, and incense, adding depth without overpowering, while even tannins and bright acidity create a seamless balance that is both approachable and refined.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Estate Reserve opens with a florist shop bouquet of dusty violets and roses, lavender, incense and dried black cherries. Balsamic-laced blackberries mingle with a hint of sour citrus over a silken textural wave. Tension builds on the finish, leaving citrus-tinged blackberry that puckers the cheeks and is framed by edgy tannins.
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.