Winemaker Notes
#51 of Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 of 2020
Bright and aromatic with notes of pomegranates, orange zest, bright cherries, and dried herbs. This wine perfectly emphasizes the essence of the Willamette Valley.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
You'll have to search far and wide to find a Willamette Valley Pinot this good at this price. Winemaker Ehren Jordan is a proven Pinot master, and works his magic here, using fruit from top Chehalem Mountain and Eola-Amity sites. This offers a well-integrated mix of fruit and barrel flavors, blackberries, black cherry, mocha and coffee. The ripe and focused tannins add notes of espresso and toasted hazelnuts; the wine is a sheer joy to drink.
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.