Winemaker Notes
La Source hones in on the top of Seven Springs Vineyard, where western sun and wind are at their most intense. The earth feels close – sandalwood, bay leaf and leather lead a forested nose into star anise and well-integrated oak, with red fruit and Navel peel lurking underneath. Weightless but dense, soft but linear, this wine slaloms through level after level as airy tannins melt into the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A wine of depth and density, this red remains light on its feet. Compelling raspberry flavors are layered with notes of forest floor, star anise and savory spices that build richness and tension toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2034.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Pinot Noir La Source comes from the top of the ridge and displays a transparent red hue. It offers a spicier profile in the glass with hints of darker berries coming into the mix, yet it remains red-fruited, with cinnamon, rocky earth, purple floral notes, and a light sanguine touch. A subtle iron richness shines on the palate, providing a grounded feel with ripe tannins, a medium-bodied structure, and mouthwatering salinity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir La Source, fermented with 33% whole clusters, has layered scents of pomegranate, blackberry, mixed tea leaves, aniseed and lavender. The medium-bodied palate features concentrated, fragrant flavors. It’s structured by chalky tannins and vibrant acidity and has a long, nuanced finish.
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.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.