Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A soft and silky pinot with beautiful dried strawberries, blueberries and hints of vanilla to close. Medium to full body, ultra-fine tannins and a fruity finish. This is all about subtlety and freshness. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
There is a darker fruit spectrum evident in the reserve, with notes of coffee, smoke, black fruits, a touch of charred wood all worked through, and without damping the core fruit flavors. Those bright flavors spotlight raspberry, plum and black cherry. A light cola flavor pokes through, with ripe tannins and proportionate acids. The barrel treatment is beautifully applied, adding sweet spice to the finish.
Editors’ Choice -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: I am often skeptical when wineries produce a "reserve bottling." The resultant wines often show more extraction and depth, yet lack finesse and style. Fortunately, in the case of the Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve, the wine exhibits power and style. TASTING NOTES: The 2014 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir offers beautiful aromas and flavors of ripe red fruit, some earthy notes, and bright minerality in its aromas and flavors. Pair the wine's richness with lightly spiced grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: March 1, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and delicately expressive, with floral cherry and stony mineral aromas and sleekly complex raspberry, tea and spice flavors that build depth. Drink now through 2023.
Ken and Grace Evenstad founded Domaine Serene Vineyards and Winery in 1989 when they purchased 42 acres of just-logged land in the Dundee Hills of Oregon and built a five-level, gravity flow winery to produce ultra-premium Pinot Noir. Today, Domaine Serene produces wines from six individual vineyard estates in the Willamette Valley planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Each estate offers a diversity of soils, clones, rootstocks, microclimates, slopes, and elevations that add distinguishing complexity and elegance to the wines.
The Evenstads now own over 1,000 acres, more than 360 of which are planted to vine in three AVAs of the Willamette Valley and are actively preserving Oregon White Oak trees and the biodiversity of the region. They have achieved LIVE certification, the highest certification in the world for sustainable viticulture. Domaine Serene’s wines have won many accolades and awards, including 200 wines scoring 90 points or higher by Wine Spectator. Their 2013 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir was recognized as #3 Wine in the World, while the 2014 Evenstad Reserve Chardonnay received 95 points and was ranked the #2 Wine in the World according to Wine Spectator. Over the years, Domaine Serene has opened three Oregon Wine Lounges in Portland, Bend, and Lake Oswego that offer wine club members, locals, and visitors an elevated wine experience.
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.