Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Distinctly minerally, with a saline quality to the ripe raspberry and cherry flavors, coming together harmoniously against powdery tannins on the long, vivid finish. Exciting, promising a great future. Best from 2017 through 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Goodrich Pinot Noir is about 40% whole cluster this year, certain blocks 100% whole cluster and others destemmed. Maceration is via pumpovers with plunging only at the end of fermentation. It has a blackberry and briary scented bouquet with subtle earthy tones, nicely defined but tightly coiled at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with soft and supple texture and it is difficult to discern the whole cluster fruit, that is to say there is hardly any stemminess in this wine. Instead there is plenty of spice towards the finish with black pepper and clove notes infusing the black fruit. This delivers style and class and (of course) it comes recommended.
One of the founding wineries of the Willamette Valley, family-owned and operated Elk Cove Vineyards was the first vineyard in what is now the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Second-generation Owner/Winemaker and fifth-generation Oregon farmer Adam Campbell sources fruit from Elk Cove's six 100% estate-grown, sustainably farmed vineyard sites located across the northern Willamette Valley, specializing in Pinot Noir and cool-climate white wines. Elk Cove is named for the local herd of Roosevelt elk and the protective bowl shape of the property. Its tasting room is tucked into the foothills of the Coast Range, with spectacular views of the surrounding vineyards and mountains.
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.