Winemaker Notes
This wine offers aromas of brooding deep Oregon-strawberry, pekoe-tea leaves, as well as cola notes. There is great vitality and liveliness and a core of seductive ripe fruit. A very pretty, complete wine.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Mt Jefferson Cuvée Pinot Noir comes from vines located above the winery augmented by purchased fruit from notable vineyards. It contains around 40% whole-cluster fruit (one of the central tenets at Cristom), and only undergoes one racking during its 12 months in barrel: one just before filtration and then just before bottling. It has an attractive tertiary/woodland-scented bouquet with dried rose petal notes coming through, much less fruit driven than many other 2012 Pinot Noirs. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip on the entry. It is quite sappy in style with crisp black fruit rather than red, leading to a focused, slightly austere, tobacco-tinged and saline finish. I would afford this a year in bottle for this "classic" style of Oregon Pinot.
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Wine & Spirits
Generous at the outset, with a succulent core of plum and cherry flavors, Cristom's entry-level pinot is a bit zaftig, the oak providing a firm sheen against which that fruit can resonate. Serve with smoked salmon rillettes.
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
The potential of Willamette Valley Pinot noir continues to attract the investment of serious growers and winemakers both locally and from abroad, as naturally the finished wines bring accolades from professionals and enthusiasts. With a range of styles from delicate dried cherry, raspberry and hibiscus to stronger notes of truffle, mocha, plum and spice, a fine Willamette Valley Pinot noir is a perfect expression of both character and grace.