Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThis immaculately clean wine brings crystalline details into sharp focus. Pretty cherry fruit pops out, with supporting citrus. Those acid-driven flavors round off and resolve in a light, mineral-soaked finish.
After 20 vintages in Oregon, Andrew Rich is beginning to feel like a veteran. His passion for wine was nurtured not in the fertile soils of the Willamette Valley, however, but in the urban sprawl of New York City, where he once edited the wine column for a national magazine. When the pull of wine became stronger than that of publishing, he headed to Burgundy to study winemaking and viticulture, a move that lead to employment at the small but influential Bonny Doon Vineyard, in California, for nearly six years.
His skills honed, Andrew headed to Oregon in 1994 with the quixotic vision of making Rhône-style wines in the Willamette Valley from Columbia Valley grapes. Turns out he was a little ahead of the curve: it wasn't until 2000 – when Syrah, Roussanne, Grenache, and Mourvèdre grapes became available to him – that he was finally able to realize that vision.
Meanwhile, he had discovered his love of Pinot Noir, which has since become the more dominant prong of his dual focus. There are three Pinot blends, with fruit sourced from a dozen northern Willamette Valley vineyards: the soft and approachable Prelude; the classic Verbatim, a "grape for grape" translation of vintage and place; and the structured and age-worthy Knife Edge.
While the range at Andrew Rich Wines may be broad – in addition to the Pinots and Rhône-style wines the winery is known for Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer dessert wine, and several others – the intent is always to make wines of balance, grace, and sheer deliciousness.
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.