Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Pinot Noir Life is a certified biodynamic wine with no sulfites added. The winery has been working on this project since 2002 trying to build natural anti-oxidants into the fruit. Aside from that significant fact, the wine received essentially the same elevage as the winery’s other Pinot offerings. It is an early bottled 2010, a vintage that looks to be superb. Dark ruby red in color, it sports an alluring nose of exotic spices, rose petal, black cherry, and black raspberry. In the glass it opens to reveal a youthful personality, a confiture of black fruits, an excellent acid structure, and impeccable balance. If I were to speculate about its aging potential not knowing it received no sulfur addition, I would say drink it through 2020+. Knowing that it was made with no added sulfur, handling and storage will be of great importance.
93+ Points
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.