Winemaker Notes
This deep-colored 2023 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir has cherry and whole-leaf tea notes. Strawberry, vanilla, and cracked pepper flavors are followed by cherry and earthy spice. With its medium body and fine tannins, this wine boasts a great structure and is excellent by the glass.
It is equally versatile at the table, paired with a wide range of foods, from hearty meats to seafood, incredibly delicious with mushroom dishes. As always, focus, electricity, and verve are key components of Averaen.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A lovely and slightly wild example of a cool-climate pinot noir, with bright acidity, juiciness and fine tannins. Red cherries, baking spices, pine forest, peonies and slate on the nose. The palate shows wild thyme, iron and sour cherries. Juicy, tart and dry, with a light to medium body.
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Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley blossoms in the glass with a dusting of sweet spice, sandalwood and dried cherries. Creamy and textured on the palate, it gains lift and energy with air, leaving behind a resonance of raspberry candy and a gentle tug of fine 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.