Winemaker Notes
The really good 2019 Colene Clemens 'Margo' Pinot Noir shows rich cherry cola with ash and pomegranate seed tones aromatically. The plate shows good verve and viscosity, finishing long with rich red and dark fruits with smoldering stones. Drink 2022-2032
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Shows a simmering intensity beneath a polished texture as this red unfurls crushed stone, raspberry and hints of tarragon. Builds richness and tension toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now
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.”
The Chehalem Mountains is a northwest-southeast span of several distinct mountains, ridges and peaks in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. Of all of Willamette Valley's smaller AVAs, it is closest to the city of Portland. Its highest summit, Bald Peak at an elevation of 1,633 feet, serves to generate cooler air for the rest of the AVA and its hillside vineyards. The region covers 70,000 acres but only 1,600 acres are planted to vines; soils of the Chehalem Mountains are a mix of basalt, ocean sediment and loess.