Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From marine sedimentary soils, the 2023 Pinot Noir Guadalupe Vineyard pours a youthful ruby and offers notes of orange oil, saddle leather, ripe cherries, and fresh herbs. Medium to full-bodied, it’s plush and rounded with ripe tannins, balanced acidity, and an umami-rich, contemplative finish.
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Wine Spectator
A dynamic and harmonious Pinot, offering handsome flavors of cherry and cranberry laced with black tea and dusty mineral notes as this builds tension toward fine-grained tannins.
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.