Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is complex and layered, with spiced cherries, aged tangerine peel, crushed spices and nutshells. Some licorice notes. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and polished with a firm backbone of very fine tannins and earthy undertones. Lingering finish. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
I've had several vintages of this wine and this is my favorite so far. Despite hitting 14.1% abv, it feels light on its feet, with a nice balance between gentle acidity and velvety tannins. Look for aromas and flavors of briary raspberries, graphite, earth and coffee with cream.
Editors' Choice
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.”
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.