Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Tight and tannic when first opened, this 100% Pommard clone Pinot ultimately bursts open with black cherry and cassis fruit, a strong streak of cola, and notes of moist earth, chocolate and espresso. A firm through-line carries it into a dense finish, which has the authority and power to reward another decade at least of cellar time. Drink now through 2025.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and sleek, with licorice and floral overtones to the black cherry and spice flavors, coming together against refined tannins on the finish. Best from 2016 through 2020.
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.