Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Sleek, transparent and immensely appealing, with an open texture, delicate structure and harmony, persisting on the finish, displaying dark berry, orange peel, black tea and loamy earth complexity. The finish sails on. Drink now through 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Ceras, blended blind as usual, is about "mineralité" according to winemaker Maggie Harrison. There is some whole cluster in this blend, around 11%. It has a very delineated bouquet with cranberry and crushed strawberry, crushed stone, very Pommard-like in style and extremely well focused. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy and lace-like tannin, more black fruit than red; conspicuously saline in the mouth and revealing a subtle marine influence towards the finish that comes across as Old World in style. It is another wonderful 2013 from Antica Terra - not cheap, but quality never usually is.
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.