Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
The 2013 Last Chapter exhibited a kind of embarrassment of exuberance when tasted for this issue, dark-fruited one moment, red-fruited the next, tense and jittery one moment, rhapsodic and harmonious the next. Tasted over three days, the net impression was one of vibrancy and potential, the strawberry-liqueur saturation promising to evolve into something lasting. Wait.
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Wine Spectator
Crisp and focused, with a slight minty edge accenting the raspberry and red plum flavors, lingering on the sleek, open-textured finish. Drink now through 2020.
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.