Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Unquestionably one of the most exciting wines I tasted at the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter. This is a blend of four different Pinor Noir vineyards in the Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills and Yamhill-Carlton AVAs. Only 1,800 bottles were produced in 2011.
The nose is floral, pure and perfumed with violets and raspberries vying for attention. In the mouth, it is delicate and fine but has an extraordinary intensity of flavours encompassing, incense, wild strawberries, toffee and cream. Completing the picture are ultra-fine tannins and delicious acidity and length. A class act.
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James Suckling
Gorgeous pinot with dried strawberry and spice character. Full body, soft tannins, and remains fresh and lively. Lovely combination of ripe fruit and acidity. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This cuvée offers the pleasures of sweet, sappy red fruits, soft tannins and broad swaths of caramel, toasted hazelnuts and mocha. It coats the tongue with flavor and has a sort of insistence that the next sip will be even better.
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Wine Spectator
Bright and lively, light and tangy, with raspberry and cranberry notes most prominent on the sleek, cleanly defined frame. Has presence and lingers well.
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.