Winemaker Notes
#47 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019
The brick house looks out over eight acres of Dijon clone vines planted on a full south slope. Since 1998, they have supplied superior fruit that continues to win critical acclaim. The “Les Dijonnais” Pinot Noir represents the best barrels from this warm site. In contrast with the Pommard clone bottlings, the “Les Dijonnais” Pinot Noir offers a more floral interpretation of the grape, often displaying hints of rose petal and meadow flowers.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Medium red with a garnet tinge, the 2016 Pinot Noir Les Dijonnais is in a great place now, with spicy aromas as well as notes of rose petal. It is refreshing and harmonious on the palate, with great balance and a delicate savory touch. I like where this is drinking now and it has plenty of life ahead of it.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir les Dijonnais has a classic nose of red cherries and berries with nuances of spiced cranberries and wonderful layers of earth and mineral: cola, wood smoke, dusty earth, dried tea leaves and touches of cracked pepper. Medium-bodied and silky textured, it fills the mouth with warm red fruits that carry the layers of earth and spice on the mouthwatering, layered finish. This is lovely!
Rating: 94+
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Wine Enthusiast
Fresh, aromatic and juicy, this deliciously complex wine incorporates the extra texture of biodynamically farmed grapes, adding details and length. Citrus, berry, a dash of Dr Pepper soda and a solid foundation of stone make for a firm, age-worthy wine. It spent 15 months in one-third new French oak.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and harmonious, with effortlessly complex violet, raspberry and river stone accents that take on richness toward a lingering 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!