Winemaker Notes
Aromatically the wine is red and blackberry driven, perfumed with fine vanilla cake, damp forest floor, and violets. On the palate, the wine is juicy and full, with perfectly ripened berry fruits, well-integrated tannins, and mulling spices.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very spicy and fresh array of blueberries, ripe darker cherries and plums. Cassis aromas, too, as well as more savory notes of graphite and fragrant wood. The palate has very striking depth and presence with expansive, fleshy tannins carrying intense fruit flavors, in the darker spectrum of cherries and berries. Cocoa powder to close. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Mt. Jefferson Cuvée Pinot Noir is the first iteration labeled with the Eola-Amity Hills appellation. Proprietor Tom Gerrie is still developing new vineyards at Cristom, and he hopes to source at least 80% of the fruit for this bottling from the estate in the future. This vintage contains about 60% estate fruit; it was made with 46% whole cluster and aged 11 months in 21% new French oak. It has a medium ruby color and savory aromas of cured meats and tar, layered with blackberries, rhubarb and licorice hints. The palate is light-bodied, firm and fresh with earth-laced fruits and a perfumed finish. Cristom's largest cuvée, the Mt. Jefferson overdelivers at this price point.
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Wine & Spirits
Dry and turfy, this feels angular and grippy, with a tight weave and mineral grip that gears it toward a meal, something like duck breast.
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.