Winemaker Notes
Pair with cheddar and other savory cheeses, rack of lamb, lasagna with bolognese or carbonara sauce, grilled vegetables or potato based soups.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Erath 2011 Pinot Noir Leland displays saliva-stimulating salinity and savor akin to toasted shrimp shells that immediately caught my attention and repeatedly clinched the desire to take the next sip. Juicy cherry is tinged with sarsaparilla, macaroon and vanilla (around 45% of the barrels for this were new), but cherry pit and iodine help offset the wine’s confectionary aspects, and this finishes with mouthwatering persistence. I suspect this will be worth following through at least 2018.
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.