Winemaker Notes
Ken Wright Cellars is devoted to showcasing the inherent quality of selected vineyard sites. With a clarity and breadth that is unequaled by other varieties, we believe Pinot noir best expresses the character of these sites. Rather than stamping wine with a varietal trademark, Pinot noir is the ultimate vehicle for conveying the aroma, flavor and texture of the location in which it is grown. Ken Wright Cellars produces a single vineyard Pinot Noir from 13 different vineyard sites in the Northern Willamette Valley.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Richly fruity, this fills out a jammy core with blueberry, blackberry and marionberry flavors. The vineyard’s native minerality shows here as a seam of graphite, while the finishing tannins come cloaked in delicious mocha. All in all, a sensational year for this cuvée.
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James Suckling
A very rich, earthy, blueberry and plum nose with a succulent palate that has rich red plums and dark cherries, swathed in silky, supple tannins and some fresher lift at the finish. Drink or hold. Synthetic cork.
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Wine Spectator
Impeccably structured and elegantly expressive, with refined black raspberry, licorice and toasted cinnamon flavors. Drink now through 2025.
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.