Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Pinot Noir Basalt Block has a medium ruby color and is just beginning to segue to tertiary character. Scented of rhubarb, cranberry, pomegranate, citrus peel, crushed stone, saline and old leather, the medium-bodied palate is intense, finely grained and super juicy, finishing long and nuanced. This is just coming into its drinking window but can certainly be held in bottle a bit longer.
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Wine Spectator
Bright and jazzy, this is dense in color, with lively acidity to the blackberry and spice flavors, lingering easily against refined tannins.
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.