Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from 18 small plots, the 2019 Pinot Noir Estate was aged for 16 months in 20% new French oak and 30% whole cluster fermentation. It reveals pure and transparent aromatics of cedar, fresh roses, and moss-covered earth. The palate is medium-bodied and has an elegant feel, with fresh raspberry, beetroot, and cinnamon. Drink 2022-2028.
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Wine Enthusiast
The aromas aren't fully ready to reveal themselves, with brooding but still appealing notes of dark cherry, tea leaf, spice and herb. The black tea flavors are polished and reserved, showing plenty of detail. It's impressive.
Editors' Choice -
James Suckling
Attractively earthy nose of mushrooms, crushed cherry stones, soil and dried flowers. Sleek and tangy on the palate, with fine-grained tannins and a more reserved finish. Drink or hold.
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.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.