Winemaker Notes
The Basalte Pinot Noir is our bedrock bottling from the Willamette Valley. It is sourced from vineyards that have fairly thin volcanic clay topsoil over fractured basalt. This type of very rocky soil lends itself to muscular, firmly structured wines, with persistent length. The Basalte captures this expressive character of the soil, with deep red fruit and a fine tannic structure that maintains elegant style.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Gracefully structured, with a vibrant beam of cherry and raspberry flavors accented by stony minerality and dusky spices. Builds richness toward refined tannins.
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James Suckling
Attractively savory nose of mushrooms, sea urchins, cherries, slate and green strawberries. It’s sleek, savory and mineral, with a medium body, fine-grained tannins and a more stony finish. Unfiltered.
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Wine Enthusiast
An aroma pleasingly similar to a grape popsicle collides with notes of wet granite, rose petals and clove. Bright red raspberry and cranberry flavors are joined by dark chocolate and coriander. Gentle acidity and soft tannins make for easy sipping.
Located in Oregon’s Northern Willamette Valley, J. Christopher Wines is a boutique winery that specializes in Pinot Noir made in the traditional style of Burgundy, and in Sauvignon Blanc modeled after the superlative wines of Sancerre. The winery is owned by world renowned Ernst Loosen, of Weingut Dr. Loosen in Germany. Erni’s lifetime passion for the wines of Burgundy has led to a philosophy to produce elegant, nuanced wines in a distinctly Old World style with an emphasis on lower alcohol and a modest amount of oak. The wines have garnered an international reputation for their purity, balance and food-friendly drinkability.
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.”
The Chehalem Mountains is a northwest-southeast span of several distinct mountains, ridges and peaks in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. Of all of Willamette Valley's smaller AVAs, it is closest to the city of Portland. Its highest summit, Bald Peak at an elevation of 1,633 feet, serves to generate cooler air for the rest of the AVA and its hillside vineyards. The region covers 70,000 acres but only 1,600 acres are planted to vines; soils of the Chehalem Mountains are a mix of basalt, ocean sediment and loess.