Winemaker Notes
#33 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2020
The Ken Wright Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a representation of many of the single vineyard Pinot Noir sites in one bottle. Ripe rainier cherry, red plum and blackberry are nestled between notes of rose petal, cedar and turned earth. The wine is vibrant and lively on the palate with a generous finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Ken Wright’s most affordable Pinot Noir is back in good supply, and just as aromatic and beautifully structured as ever. It starts out on the lean side, hinting at rhubarb but rolling into riper raspberry and spicy plum fruit. The herbs have a peppery bite, and the overall impression is of a complex and layered wine.
-
Wine Spectator
Sleek and elegantly rich, with a vibrant backbone of polished tannins and bright acidity wrapped in expressive raspberry and orange zest flavors, with sandalwood and other zesty spice notes. Drink now through 2026.
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.