Winemaker Notes
The aromas of this Pinot Noir are bright and botanical, yet dignified. On the palate, it's concentrated with rich fruit buttressed by lively acidity and distinguished tannins.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A bright red color, the 2022 Pinot Noir Seven Springs has notes of wild raspberries, fresh flowers, sweet tea leaf, orange citrus, and rocky earth. The palate is snappy and fresh with a medium-bodied frame. It has fine tannins and an even and floating feel throughout the finish. Drink 2026-2040.
-
James Suckling
A charming, elegant and velvety wine that emphasizes wild berries and woodsy, savory accents on a medium frame of snappy tannins and nervy acidity. Lots of tangy red fruit, from cranberries to sour cherries, and accents of bay leaves and pine. Best from 2026.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard has alluring aromas of pomegranate, blueberry, forest floor and bitters. The medium-bodied palate pairs concentrated, spicy flavors with silky tannins and vibrant acidity, and it has a long, citrusy finish. It opens dramatically with air and will benefit from a few years in the cellar.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine Enthusiast
This balanced beauty was fermented and aged in a combination of concrete and neutral oak barriques. The wine’s aromas run the range from boysenberry soda and violets to a meaty note similar to bone broth. A light and nimble texture is a perfect fit with flavors like cranberry and lime zest, with a mild chalky note.
-
Wine Spectator
Steely and precise, with vibrant raspberry and pomegranate flavors that reveal accents of stony mineral, dusky spices and black tea as this gathers verve and tension toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2032.
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.