Winemaker Notes
Blending elements from the best of our seven certified organic estate vineyards, Jerome Reserve is intended to be our most balanced, expressive and age-worthy Pinot noir. The core of the 2014 Jerome is Stermer Vineyard fruit that tends to be well structured, spicy and later ripening. The blend is rounded out by earlier ripening fruit from Meyer Vineyard which is more red fruited and acid driven. Through combining wines from our best earliest and latest picked vineyards, beautiful balance and finesse is achieved. The wine is bright with big cherry and red currant aromas and has nuances of anise, cinnamon and black pepper. There is also amazing concentration and structure leading into a long, juicy finish. This wine is sure to evolve gorgeously for the next decade or more in bottle.
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.