Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A sensational value from Robert Brittan, this marries rock-laden raspberry fruit to precise and vivid acidity. The lightly applied (roughly one-quarter) new French oak puts a touch of pretty toast into the mix. Taken all in all, it's a doctoral thesis in structure, definition and terroir. Drink through 2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Basalt Block aged 12 months in 27% new French oak. Medium ruby-purple, it is scented of warm red currant, cranberries, macerated blackberries and Morello cherries with accents of grapefruit peel, rose petals, fragrant earth and amaro. The medium-bodied palate explodes with ripe, nuanced fruits, firmly framed and fresh with a long, perfumed finish. 990 cases produced.
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James Suckling
Aromas of fresh cedar, dark cherries and some cassis lead to a palate that has a very intense frame of firm tannin and some taut cassis and cherries below.
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.”
Stretching southwest from the city of McMinnville, the AVA with the same name covers about 40,000 acres across 20 miles until it meets the Van Duzer Corridor. This corridor is the only break in the Coast Range whose gap allows the cool Pacific Ocean air to flow eastward into the Willamette Valley.
The Pacific's moderating winds hit McMinnville’s south and southeast facing slopes where cool-climate varieties—namely Pinot noir and Pinot blanc thrive on ridges at between 200 to 1,000 feet in elevation.
Soils here are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loam and silt, with alluvial formations; McMinnville receives less rainfall than its neighbors to the east because it is situated in the rain shadow of the Coast Range.