Winemaker Notes
Potpourri, mountain black cherry, winter spices, rosewood: These are just a few of the aromas that saunter out of the glass and into the senses with this vintage of estate Pinot Noir. True to the cuvée and especially the 2023 vintage, there is both serious minerality and also buoyancy, a smile, in fruit and spice that carries to all of the wine's elements, namely its sturdy but polished tannins, clean finish and simply stellar approachability. The vigor of Evening Land's basalt soils and the eastern exposure of these vines express themselves clearly here — growing pure, well-composed Pinot Noir.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard is scented of dried red cherries and cranberries plus wafts of orange, earth and dried flowers. The medium-bodied palate has a silky texture and is bursting with berry and citrus flavors. It’s balanced by mouthwatering acidity and has a long, bright finish.
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Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Seven Springs wafts up like a basket of freshly picked wild berries mixed with minty herbs and autumnal spice. It feels round, delivering a silken wave of ripe red and blue fruits that swirl beneath an air of chalk dust and lavender. The finish is medium length with gentle chewiness yet remains incredibly fresh.
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.