Winemaker Notes
This is a beautifully complex wine with elegant fruit and structure. Classic Pinot Noir aromas and flavors of dark fruit – black raspberry, marionberry, blueberry and ripe dark cherry – are joined by accents of black tea, clove, vanilla, toast, orange zest and forest floor. Supple tannins and bright acidity on the palate lead to a coating finish with lingering spiciness.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Strawberries, undergrowth, blueberries, cloves and thyme on the nose. Juicy, flavorful and pleasantly earthy, with a medium body and relatively firm tannins.
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Tasting Panel
This is a solid Pinot in every important respect - and that extends to a quite reasonable price with broad distribution. Styled at the weightier edge of light-bodied, it manages to maintain delicacy while also offering satisfying flavors and a persistent finish. Notes of dark cherry and fresh plum are highly appealing, with just a touch of oak spice up top and a little tug of tannin on the finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Scents of strawberry blossom and sour cherry lead in this structured pink. The palate is lively and brisk, buoyed by acidity and by a lively phenolic grip that is hunger inducing, for linguiça and roasted potatoes.
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.