Winemaker Notes
Erath produces Pinot Noir from six different sites in the Dundee Hills viticultural area. "Reserve" quality lots are chosen from the best wines from these sites and blended to make this Estate Selection cuvée. The iron-clad Jory soils predominate this growing area and give the wines their distinctive aroma and flavor profiles, and elegant, age-worthy structure. Fruit focused in their youth, Erath Estate Selection Pinots gain additional complexity and sophistication when cellared for three to eight years.
"Pie cherries with smoky and seductive herb garden aromas of sage and lavender. Cherry vanilla flavors with a hint of anise offer a sweet entry that leads to a satisfying even finish. Drink from 2007 through 2013."
- Gary Horner, Winemaker
Excellent with wild mushrooms, duck, roast beef, lamb or other red meats, chocolate, garlic and salmon.
Professional Ratings
Erath wines are an expression of the land that the winery has cultivated for more than 40 years, longer than any other winery in the Dundee Hills of Region. One of Oregon’s wine pioneers, Erath winery’s founder, Dick Erath, was driven by the belief that the future of Pinot Noir was in Oregon. The Oregon Pinot legacy, spirit and vision of founder Dick Erath continues to evolve under acclaimed winemaker Leah Adint. The love of winemaking has taken her around the world, giving her unique experiences that she brings to her role as Winemaker at Erath Winery. She is dedicated to upholding the incredible legacy of Erath’s winemaking and will continue the vision of pushing the envelope of making different and special wines.
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.