Winemaker Notes
A superb match with salmon, rosemary glazed duck, foie gras, suckling pork chop, or Boeuf Bourginon.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A juicy, tart-edged melange of cranberry, red currant and red raspberry in Erath’s 2011 Pinot Noir Prince Hill picks up saliva-inducing savor from shrimp shell reduction and veal stock, the salinity present on a firm, bright, and buoyant palate translating into a real finishing tang that dovetails perfectly with the incisive invigoration of berry seed crunching. I suspect that this archetypical 2011 and poster child for Erath’s flagship site and its Worden Hill Rd. neighborhood will perform admirably through at least 2020.
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Wine Spectator
Supple, light-footed and appealing, with allspice- and cinnamon-accented red berry flavors, fleshing out into a welcome but refined density as the spicy finish sails on.
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.