Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Brilliant red. Powerful red berry liqueur, Asian spice and incense aromas are brightened by a smoky mineral nuance that builds steadily in the glass. Sappy, sweet and penetrating in the mouth, offering vibrant raspberry, cherry and floral pastille flavors joined by lively five-spice powder and white pepper accents. Spicy and seamless on the finish, showing silky, harmonious tannins and superb, floral-dominated persistence.
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James Suckling
A wealth of flowers on the nose of this pinot noir such as roses, peonies and violets as well as red fruits in the red cherry and ripe cranberry spectrum. On the attack the beautiful acidity really surrounds the full-bodied palate with tangy fruit, but then the firm yet encompassing tannins come into play and ensure this finishes not just bright but really dense and structured. Delicious now but better in 2019.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2015 Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard leaps from the glass with notes of cherry cordial, violets, rose hip tea and chocolate box plus wafts of forest floor and black pepper. Medium-bodied, the palate is tautly structured with firm, grippy tannins and a great backbone of lively acidity, finishing with lingering earthy notes.
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Wine Spectator
Well-structured and rather brooding, with blueberry and cherry fruit accented by cinnamon, clove and stony minerality. Finishes with refined tannins. Best from 2019 through 2024.
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.