Winemaker Notes
Our 2018 Dundee Hills Reserve Pinot Noir displays a dark ruby color. Nuanced aromas of dried cherries, rose petals and earth set the tone. Juicy wild strawberry and cherry coat the palate with notes of sage highlighted in the background. The use of new French oak barrels in this wine supports the fruit and adds a touch of baking spice aroma where the contribution of older French oak barrels allows the tannins to develop gracefully over time. The finish is silky and long, which is a characteristic of Dundee Hills Pinot Noir.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Four Graces Dundee Hills Reserve Pinot Noir impressive with its sturdy and well-built structure. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits concentrated black fruit, light chalkiness, and oaky accents in its aromas and flavors. Enjoy it with grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: September 9, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Tasting Panel
Pleasing aromas of dried leaves, cherry, and tomato leaf lead to a silky palate. Plum skin and dark cherry define the flavor profile, as do blooming rose petals, a thread of minerality, and a savory finish of espresso and cigar leaf. Aged nine months in 25% new French oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
A pretty violet aroma leads the way into a solid wine packed with blueberry, blackberry and plum fruit flavors. A hint of cola and a streak of dark chocolate contribute to a potent, powerful Pinot that can take on almost any sort of meat entrée, including a big burger.
Named for the four daughters of the founders, The Four Graces are sustainably farmed, well-tended vineyards with the goal of producing rich, elegant, delicious, and complex wines.
The Black family purchased an existing vineyard in the Dundee Hills of the Willamette Valley in 2003 as a family retreat. They immediately began turning the estate into a sustainably farmed, well-tended vineyard with the goal of producing rich, elegant, delicious and complex wines.
That same year, The Four Graces was founded. The winery is named in honor of the Black’s four daughters.
In 2005 the Black’s purchased the Doe Ridge property in Yamhill-Carlton to continue the growth of the brand. They chose a site in a differing appellation to add complexity and variety.
This vineyard has been turned into one of the largest experiments of its kind with forty acres farmed sustainably through the L.I.V.E (low impact viticulture and enology) program.
Today,The Four Graces is owned by Bill Foley and produces Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Blanc renowned nationally and internationally for their balance, elegance, complexity, and richness. The wines are crafted under the guidance of Marc Myer’s who has been in the industry since 2008 and believes both the Dundee and Yamhill-Carlton estates are stunning at first glance and he can’t wait to work with the fruit that comes off of these properties.
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.”
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.