Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of toffee, ripe fruit and chocolate follow through to a full body, soft tannins and walnut/hazelnut undertones. Soft-textured. Delicious finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2014 Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard has subtle red berry and dried herb notes with suggestions of potpourri, charcoal and raspberry leaves and hints of cardamom and forest floor. Medium-bodied with a good core of black cherry and black raspberry notes with hints of underbrush, garrigue, fungi and lavender. It is a more structured style, with firm chewy tannins and soft acidity, finishing long and earthy.
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Wine & Spirits
Scents of cedar and warm leather suggest an oak-driven wine, but with air a dark, mineral-inflected black plum flavor comes to the fore, accented by savory stem spice. Give this time in the cellar to knit and then serve with tea-smoked duck. (894 cases)
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.