Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Complex and very spicy with aromas of dried strawberry and a swathe of sweet herbs, forest wood and undergrowth. The palate has a very rich, compact feel with a sense of tension that really differentiates this vintage of Jessie. A very composed style and there’s a fresh, red-cherry fruit note at the finish. Really in a good place and on a nicely balanced plateau. Drink or hold.
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Wine & Spirits
Fresh and savory at once, with scents of rye flour and lees crosshatched with red cherry, this has a classic Eola–Amity Hills profile, with red-fruited elegance and a curt mineral close. The tone reflects the vintage: pristine fruit, fresh and brisk, lifted and finely wrought. It’s a wine built to age, and delicious now.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and vibrant, offering depth without weight, with dark berry, plum and spice flavors that hint at savory sage and tobacco as the finish lingers effortlessly.
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.