Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThis is 100% estate-grown fruit and has a dark-cherry and berry nose with blueberry and spicy-earth nuances also in the mix. The palate has a very plush and succulent feel with a smoothly rendered array of fine, silky tannins and a composed, fleshy and dark-fruited finish. Drink or hold.
Refined and stately in style, offering elegantly complex raspberry and cherry flavors, with orange peel and clove notes, gaining structure toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2026.
The 2016 Pinot Noir Evenstad Reserve, aged 16 months in 65% new French oak, has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and scents of blackberries, black cherries, underbrush, pipe tobacco and woodsmoke with accents of bergamot and laurel. Medium-bodied and silky, it slowly opens with floral and mineral-tinged fruits, firmly framed and juicy with a long, spiced finish. This will benefit from another year in bottle. Rating: 93+
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 to plant, grow and produce ultra-premium Pinot Noir. They have been involved in every aspect of growing, producing and marketing Domaine Serene wines. Ken and Grace own 462 acres of land in Yamhill County in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, 150 acres of land is planted to vine. In addition to Pinot Noir, which is about 95% of the wine produced, they also make a little Chardonnay and Syrah. Their wines have won many accolades and awards, including over 80 wines scoring 90 points or higher by Wine Spectator.
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.