Winemaker Notes
Rose gold in appearance, this unique white wine made from red grapes is redolent of stone fruits: peach, nectarine, and yellow plums. The rich attack tastes of ripe white peaches and nectarines, expanding mid-palate into a symphony of warm fruit flavors. A touch of residual sugar balances the acidity: this is essentially a brut rosé wine without the bubbles.
This wine is dynamite when paired with spicy foods such as Pad Thai or salty foods such as prosciutto and melon.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a rich array of ripe dark cherries with a gently herbal edge, as well as plenty of forest wood and hints of pepper. The palate has a smooth delivery of pristine, dark-cherry flavors, in fresh, juicy mode.
Made from red wine grapes, White Pinots are generally richer and more golden than most white wines, with great viscosity and a textured mouthfeel. In production, only a fraction of the juice is pressed out, which avoids releasing tannins and color. Flavors of apple, pear, and melon fruit are common, as well as baking spice and ginger. The idea is old in Champagne, where Blancs de Noirs ("white from black") have long been made from Pinots Noir and Pinot Meunier, but as a still wine, the style is relatively new.
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.