Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Such impressive depth and grace here with a graphite-like, woody thread and abundant, rich, red-cherry and dark-berry aromas. Wild-herb nuances, too. The palate has a very concentrated core of ripe, smoothly rendered tannins with good density and exceptional balance. Approachable now, but will age well over the next eight to ten years.
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Wine & Spirits
Cristom wines usually reflect some sort of tension between smoky, whole-cluster spice flavors and firmly expressed, finely wrought fruit. This 2016, from Marjorie, an 8.5-acre site on the lower slopes of the property, reflects a generous vintage with a smoky, Volnay-like suppleness, a velvety texture and gentle persistence, like waves lapping on a lakeshore. It lasts like this for days after opening, the flavors delicate and complex as it mingles with air.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby in color with a hint of purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard is scented of raspberry jam, cinnamon stick, black cherries and cardamom with notes of autumn leaves and porcini mushroom. Medium-bodied, it fills the mouth with dark fruits and spicy/earthy accents, held together with fine, firm tannins and mouthwatering acidity, finishing long and spicy.
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Wine Enthusiast
This vineyard has the lowest production and gets the most (75%) new French oak. Black fruits abound, with generous streaks of cola and mocha. The tannins are substantial, the mouthfeel a bit grainy, and there's a pleasing, chewy toasty character to the finish.
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.