Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
In the weave of oak and fruit, the wine’s brown spice wins out over the fruit at first. With a day’s air, however, the dark cherry flavors come to the fore, the oak playing a supporting role that’s more a smoky character than overt flavor. Cellar.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Gregory Ranch Vineyard is 100% biodynamic, the vineyard with four unique exposures that are harvested and fermented separated. It is also Bergstrom's coolest vineyard at 425-foot elevation and it was one of the wines picked after the rains. It has a more mineral-driven nose compared to Bergstrom's other 2013s: quite tensile with cold stone aromas infusing the cranberry and wild strawberry. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, plenty of dark berry fruit, the 50% whole cluster fruit lending some undergrowth and spicy aromas towards the finish. This is a very commendable Pinot Noir from Bergstrom.
Bergstrom Wines is a family-owned and operated artisan producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which was started in 1999 by Dr. John and Karen Bergstrom, with the help of their son Josh Bergstrom and his wife Caroline. Josh is general manager, vineyard manager and winemaker and pulls his expertise from his education in Burgundy, France and his 14 years experience making wines in Oregon's Northern Willamette Valley. Bergstrom focuses on hand-crafting small lots of wines from their fice estate vineyards carefully chosen from fice of Oregon's six wine-growing appellations. All estate acreage is farmed biodynamically and all wines express the wonderful diversity of Oregon's many great terroirs.
Bergström Wines consists of five estate vineyards totaling 84 acres that span across four of the Willamette Valley’s best appellations: The Bergström Vineyard, Silice Vineyard, Winery Block, Gregory Ranch and Le Pré du Col. Each estate vineyard is farmed without the use of harsh chemicals, systemic or fertilizers, and the winery produces approximately 10,000 cases of ultra-premium and extremely sought-after wine each year, including two Chardonnays and nine different Pinot Noirs.
While the Willamette Valley and Pinot Noir are a like a fairy tale match made in heaven, most of Oregon is in fact, a glorious source of Pinot noir. Claiming over half of its total area under vine, Pinot noir also thrives in Southern Oregon’s Umpqua and Rogue Valleys where sedimentary and volcanic soils dominate hillside vineyards and cool temperatures create the perfect environment for Pinot noir. Also, Oregon’s Columbia Gorge is becoming increasingly popular for Pinot noir production. What sets Oregon Pinot noir apart from the Pinot of other regions, both New and Old World, is its innate combination of grace with both power and restraint.