Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This wine is blended across three AVAs, high-elevation Dijon clones from The Dundee Hills and Chehalem Mountains and some lower-elevation Wadenswil from the Yamhill Carlton craft a wine with impressive structure and longevity and comprised of the 20 best barrels in a given vintage. It's showing wonderfully but is really built to age. The aromas are generously sweet and fruited, with subtle spice and mineral notes that emerge from the background. The palate is rich, with ripe brambleberries, strawberries and balsamic. Savoury lift comes from wintergreen, wild anise and a note of black tea leaves. The finish lingers on a note of ripe plum and Chinese five spice.
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James Suckling
Spicy and chocolatey with red and dark berries, crushed rosemary and lilacs. Super polished and fine, with a medium body and fresh acidity adding to cooling, minty nuances at the end. Very attractive.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and precise, with vibrant cherry, rose petal and orange-tinged tea accents that zip along the energetic finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Medium red with a light haze, the 2021 Pinot Noir Jerome Reserve delivers darker spice notes of BBQ spices, red cherries, licorice candies, and roses. Rounded and expansive on the palate, it has supple tannins and a snappy lift of acidity on the clean, ripe finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Pinot Noir Jerome Reserve mixes crushed raspberries and stone with hints of sage and rosemary. It's sweetly spiced with vividly ripe wild berry fruits and juicy acidity that maintains energy throughout. Medium in length, this leaves a staining of primary concentration and a pleasantly bitter twang, finishing lightly structured.
Lemelson Vineyards began as a dream to create a winery grounded in nature, inspired by tradition in winemaking, and driven by innovation in technology. From the beginning, organic farming was at the core of that vision. Through organic viticulture and gravity-flow production, Lemelson crafts estate-grown Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Riesling that honor Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Founder Eric Lemelson planted his first organically farmed vineyard in Yamhill County in 1995. Realizing that he loved the work involved in growing wine grapes, two years later he planted an additional 30 acres of Pinot noir and began planning the construction of a gravity-flow winery. Sustainability and organic practices were guiding principles from the start, both in the vineyards and in the winery, which was ultimately constructed using recycled and renewable materials. The intention was building something that would not only serve consumers but also the longevity of their pristine home state of Oregon.
Their commitment to organic farming and sustainability extends to all facets of winery life and ensures that all living components, be they land, vine, or human, are well cared for. It’s their belief that the glass you’re enjoying at home starts before vines were ever planted. The process from planting to drinking must be nurtured at all steps.
When you drink Lemelson wine, you are not only drinking an elegant, expressive Willamette Valley wine, you’re taking part in their journey to protect the earth for generations to come, and they thank you for that.
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.