Winemaker Notes
The Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a blend of barrels from benchmark vineyards across the region, including the Cristom Estate. Crafted with the same meticulous care as our Mt. Jefferson Cuvée and single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, this cuvée is designed to represent the broader Willamette Valley AVA. It offers a compelling expression of the vintage—elegant, balanced, and unmistakably Cristom—at a remarkable value.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A structured, full and aromatic wine that balances freshness with power. Mineral rich and floral, with aromas of pine, mushrooms and roses. Lots of crunchy fruit on the palate, with fine, mouth-filling tannins and tart red fruit.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and structured, offering appealing cherry and strawberry flavors accented by orange peel and rose petal, with hints of forest floor as this finishes with refined tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
Cristom has put together a beautifully balanced Pinot Noir for an equally attractive price. I love the wine’s earthy aromatic introduction that blends loamy soil with blackberries and a wisp of marjoram. With zesty acidity and silky tannins, this Willamette Valley gem offers a winning flavor mix of blackberries, Assam tea, and cedarwood. And what an exciting indicator of the potential of the 2024 vintage for the Willamette Valley.
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Vinous
The 2024 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley opens with a pretty blend of crushed cherries and clove, complemented by nuances of lavender. It's soft and fleshy up front, with firming acidity and pure red berry fruit on the palate. The 2024 closes with a perfumed finish marked by a crunch of minerality and a tinge of cranberry.
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.