Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This reserve-level Pinot from DDO is exceptional in every way. Silky, elegant and deeply-fruited, it marries a plush midpalate of red berries and cherries to compelling grace notes of pine needle, cola and mocha. Delicious and ageworthy; if past vintages are any indication, this can go until 2029.
Cellar Selection -
Wine & Spirits
Generous from start to finish, Laurene marries DOmaine Drouhin's traditional elegance with tremendous energy and vitality. Scents of plum and black cherry, dark and forward, are framed by warm oak spice, all marked by a high tone. Within all that generosity of flavor is a wild, vinous quality - the native yeast fermentation perhaps - guiding the wine without gettiing in its way.
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Wine Spectator
A lithe red, with a vibrant balance to ripe strawberry jam, rose petal and spice flavors, finishing with a light lift. Drink now through 2017.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Domaine Drouhin's roughly 2,000 cases of 2010 Pinot Noir Laurene won't come on the market until next year, but its sappy intensity of lightly-cooked black raspberry fruit; ultra-polished tannins; rich animal fat savor; and alluring wreath of floral perfume, all make for a delightful performance today. I admit to having sensed a whiff of reductive reticence both when I first started swirling the glass and in the finish. But the issue is for now moot given the anticipated release date; and one can already anticipate at least ten or a dozen years of pleasure from this bottling.
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.