Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Ripe and focused, with firm, fine tannins providing structure around a core of licorice-accented blackberry and floral flavors, persisting on the expressive finish. Best from 2018 through 2024.
-
Wine & Spirits
Underneath its sultry aromas of tar and cola, this has an immediate textural grace, the freshness of the fruit tethered to savory tobacco-leaf tannins that work their way into the fruit as the wine absorbs air. Decant it for game birds, like herb-crusted quail. (3,500 cases)
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.