Winemaker Notes
The 2017 vintage shows a delicacy and elegance we haven’t encountered in a few years, and our 2017 Estate Pinot Noir is no exception. Aromas of damp earth, warm spice, red cane berries and faint oak spice carry over to the palate, with balancing acidity and fine grain tannins showing potential for aging over the next 8-12 years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very foresty array of red berries, leaves and herbs with woody spices, all making for a complex proposition. The palate has a nicely contained feel with a fluid build of red to darker cherries, in a very approachable mode. Nicely cast tannin at the finish, which holds well. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This pitch-perfect expression of grape, vineyard and AVA opens with silky raspberry fruit. It’s packed deep into a focused, evocative wine with excellent aging potential. Light highlights of cinnamon, chili powder and green tea with a whiff of earthy compost contribute depth, texture and complexity. Drink now through the mid-2020s.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple, the 2017 Pinot Noir Estate has an intense, inviting nose of blueberries, boysenberries, crushed black cherries, black licorice, dusty earth and forest floor with a soft frame of sweet spices. Medium-bodied, it has the stuffing and structure to age well, sturdy but fresh and with a long, flavorful finish.
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Wine Spectator
Poised and structured, with expressive black cherry, forest floor and stony mineral accents that build toward fine-grained tannins. 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.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.