Winemaker Notes
The Hermit possesses a dark, rich Pinot Noir color that is opaque from rim to the center. When first poured primary aromas redolent of dusty Bing cherries, blueberries, cassis, wet stones and violets jump out of the glass. As the wine opens, more complex aromatics of earth, spices, cinnamon, smoke and tobacco deepen and add complexity to the initial aromas. On the palate the wine mirrors the aromatics with an attack composed of flavors of blue fruits, spices and wet stones. The wine continues with a ripe tannic structure and beautiful acidity to give shape to the concentration of fruit. On the mid-palate the wine blossoms and reveals itself fully with elegance, complexity and density.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Francis Tannahill The Hermit has herbal touches over black berries and cherries, earth and dried citrus. The medium-bodied palate has herbs-tinged fruits, a lightly chalky frame and long, fresh finish.
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.