Winemaker Notes
The famed Marjorie Vineyard boasts Cristom’s oldest estate plantings, predating the company back to 1982. Named in honor of winegrower-owner Tom Gerrie’s grandmother, Marjorie is distinctive at Cristom both for being own-rooted, and for its lower-density plantings, (605 vines/acre; 1,495 vines/hectacre), with 6 feet between vines and 12 feet between rows.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
Bright ruby-red. Assertive red berry, cherry, lavender and incense scents show outstanding clarity and spicy lift. Concentrated yet nervy black raspberry, cherry cola, spice cake and floral pastille flavors pick up a hint of smokiness. A discreet blood orange nuance adds refreshing cut to the strikingly long finish, which features polished tannins and reverberating spice and floral notes. 50% whole clusters and 48% new French oak. Best After 2025
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James Suckling
There’s purity of fruit to this pinot with strawberry and floral aromas that follow through to a medium body with ultra-fine, firm tannins and pretty, tangy acidity. Lemon undertones. Needs time to open. Better after 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby, the 2019 Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard offers scents of raspberry preserves, Earl Grey tea leaves, licorice and an undertone of gravelly mineral character. The light-bodied palate is intensely flavored but delicately styled, with a silky texture and juicy acidity, finishing with ethereal perfume.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is from the estate's oldest vines. Somehow, those old soldiers bring extra detail and definition to a full-flavored palate with a mix of lemony acidity, ripe red plum, almond candy and a lick of milk chocolate.
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Wine & Spirits
Marjorie is one of the oldest parcels on the property, a vineyard in transition as phylloxera has taken out most of the original own-rooted plantings. Its steep slope yielded a wildly savory 2019, leading with olive and smoke, tomato leaf and humus, then suddenly shot through like a beam of light with joyous, dark fruit. Dramatic and persistent, with an integration that suggests a long cellar life.
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Decanter
Nose of blackberry, black plum, violet and ripe fig. Velvety texture over a layer of spicy oak with lingering acidity. Pretty & powerful.
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.