Winemaker Notes
One of the greatest characteristics Russ finds in our proprietary yeast that he “isolated” from a bottle of 1986 Jayer Echezeaux is the velvety texture it imparts on the wines. While we use that yeast in every Pinot Noir we make, the texture it imparts is particularly notable in this wine. The 6 barrels selected from Le Puits Sec display a beautiful balance of elegance while also concentration and power. Bright berries, plum and sage with hints of toasty oak with great length on the finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a very fresh and vibrant feel and is the most complex of the Evesham Wood pinots. Aromas of red cherries, brown spice, forest wood, sliced brown mushrooms and cocoa powder, leading to a powerful palate that has a commandingly structured, focused feel with fresh, red-cherry and cherry-pip flavors. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This textured, elegant reserve sees 25% new French oak, not a lot but more than the rest of the Pinots in the winery’s portfolio. Berries, dust, mocha, stone and textural highlights from the proprietary yeast all come together to weave a seamless, intriguing palate with elegance and length. It will be lovely to see how this evolves over the next decade or longer.
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.