Winemaker Notes
All of the fruit is estate grown. All of it is certified organic.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and expressive, soft in texture, this offers generous flavors of cherry, raspberry and clove that linger effortlessly against velvety tannins. Drink now through 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Les Dijonnais is the second bottling that was picked on September 19 and 20 then matured in 35% new oak. It has a perfumed, floral bouquet with raspberry coulis, wild strawberry and fig-like aromas that are beautifully defined and surprisingly intense considering the vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe red cherry, strawberry and vanilla notes, framed by fine tannin and a very pure, very harmonious finish that leaves you wanting more. This is another excellent Pinot Noir from Doug Tunnell.
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!