Winemaker Notes
This Pinot confounds many pinotphiles. Inky almost syrah-like color leads one to assume Passiflora will be an overly lush alcohol bomb. However, the nose unleashes an aromatic dervish of tropical passion fruit, peach, apricot, floral, and countering deep lush ripe bramble fruit and blueberry. On the palette, this wine continues its assault on your conceptions of what Pinot Noir is and isn't. Opulent blue fruit tones swirl among singing hi-toned acidity. This wine is both beamingly bright and darkly powerful in the same moment without feeling disjointed. The tension is absolutely electric. This wine will cellar for many years to come. The sweet spot probably begins in 2018, but of course it is all gone by then.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Showcasing the estate's highest elevation vines, this pretty young wine offers blueberry compote with barrel flavors of bourbon and chocolate. Nothing is overdone, and it's all quite delicious, with good focus. The overall compact frame suggests aging it a bit longer. Drink 2025–2035. Cellar Selection.
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.