Winemaker Notes
Wafts of black cherry and dark ripe plum mingle with meaty savory notes and a touch of Earl Grey tea. The mouth is rich and enveloping, offering blackberry pie, fig and pomegranate. The finish is smooth and balanced—the perfect ending to this finessed and elegant journey.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Spicy and perfumed, showing wild blueberries, cloves and dried flowers. It boasts silky textures and a pleasant inner sweetness as red and blue fruits cascade across a core of juicy acidity, while cocoa and lavender resonate towards the close. There’s admirable concentration that lingers through the finale as tobacco notes fade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Pinot Noir Reserve Collection, matured in around 30% new French oak, has a medium garnet color and scents of dried cranberries and cherries, orange peel, allspice and mushrooms. The medium-bodied palate features concentrated, spicy red berry flavors. It’s structured by softly astringent tannins and juicy acidity and has a long, spicy finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the estate and single vineyards that Erath sources their grapes from, the jeweled ruby-colored 2019 Pinot Noir Reserve Collection takes on significantly more character and personality, with floral and fruity aromas of cherry liqueur, candied red flowers, and licorice. The palate is more structured, with meaty red fruit, spice, and earthy notes of turned soil.
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Wine Spectator
Structured and a bit taut, with savory cherry, black tea and dusky spice flavors that build toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2028. 3,662 cases made.
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.