Winemaker Notes
This is a wine of impressive elegance and uncompromising intensity. To say it is balanced would not begin to describe the character of this vintage. It is playful, expansive, plush, and generously resonant in its youth. Already there are hints of forest moss and river rock that we expect to unfold into a full adventure throughout decades.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Upper Terrace Vineyard was planted in 2000. Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir The Upper Terrace has a classic nose of warm red cherries and cranberries, sliced blueberries and strawberry jam with notes of cola, cardamom, oolong tea leaves and blue flowers—the nose gives up changing earth, fruit and savory layers every time I go back for another smell. Light to medium-bodied, it fills the mouth with warm, luscious strawberry and raspberry jam notes with an integrated vein of baking spice and potpourri, framed by very finely grained tannins and juicy, mouthwatering acidity, finishing epically long and spicy. Yes, yes, yes!
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Wine Spectator
A seductive wine that combines structure with harmony and a silky texture. Vivid black raspberry, rose petal and mocha espresso flavors build richness and dance on the long finish. Drink now through 2025.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Ribbon Ridge is a regular span of uplifted, marine, sedimentary soils (called Willakenzie), whose highest ridge elevations twist like a ribbon. An early settler from Missouri named Colby Carter noticed this unique topography and gave the region its name in 1865—though it wasn’t declared its own AVA until 140 years later, in 2005. The AVA is enclosed by mountains on all sides between Yamhill-Carlton and the Chehalem Mountains, and is actually part of the larger Chehalem Mountains AVA. Its soils have a finer texture than its neighbors with parent materials composed of sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone. Given its presence of natural aquifers in this five square mile area, most vineyards are actually easily dry farmed!