Winemaker Notes
Stermer Vineyard has been farmed organically since being planted in 1997. The nose of the 2018 Stermer displays Italian plum and black cherry fruit accented by notes of lavender, anise, and peppercorn spice. The palate is medium bodied, textured, and round. The finish is long and marked by sweet fruit and milk chocolate flavors.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A solid and linear pinot with crushed-stone and dark-berry character. A nice combination of strawberry and raspberry follows through to a medium body with linear tannins and fresh citrus at the end.
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Vinous
Glistening ruby-red. Highly fragrant, spice- and mineral-accented red and blue fruit scents are complemented by suggestions of candied rose, vanilla and musky herbs. Shows very good depth to the sweet cherry cola, black raspberry and spicecake flavors, which deepen slowly through the back half. Firms up on a persistent, oak-tinged finish framed by dusty, slowly building tannins. Give this one some age, or at least some air. 44% new French oak.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Pinot Noir Stermer Vineyard was aged for 15 months in 44% new French oak and is perfumed with cedar, fresh pine, and raspberry liqueur. The palate is refreshing, with grenadine, orange peel, and baking spice.
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Wine Spectator
Opens with bright aromas of raspberry, rose petal and orange peel, leading to well-structured flavors that build tension toward medium-grain tannins. Drink now.
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.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.