Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard from a site planted in 1983 and farmed by Ken Wright for the past 10 years, is dark ruby red with a sexy nose of underbrush, cherry blossom, spice box, and assorted black fruits. Rounder, richer, and a bit more concentrated than the preceding wines, it displays an outstanding integration of oak, acidity, and tannin, a velvety texture, and a lengthy, pure finish. It merits 3-4 years of cellaring and will deliver prime drinking from 2013 to 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
Still quite young, but showing real depth and layering, the McCrone vineyard designate offers pomegranate and raspberry fruit, dusted with baking spices, and finished with a tasty vein of mocha. This is a wine to enjoy in the full bloom of its youth.
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Wine Spectator
Silky, supple and distinctive for the deep mineral flavors that weave through dark berry, cherry and currant fruit, sailing easily into a cloud of fine tannins on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2018. 920 cases made.
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.