Winemaker Notes
This is a serious, but versatile wine that pairs well with a variety of meats, from roast chicken to veal, lamb, or pork.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A wine with presence and a tight but refined core of bright acidity and tannins, framed by expressive rose petal, raspberry and river stone accents. Best from 2020 through 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2017 Pinot Noir Estate is scented of blueberries, marionberries and blackberries with accents of mossy bark, forest floor and violets. Medium-bodied, it offers intense, ripe, floral-tinged fruits with a pleasantly chalky frame and great freshness, finishing long and flavorful.
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Wine Enthusiast
A delicious mix of blueberry and cherry fruit, ripe and firm, this estate-grown wine nicely reflects the AVA with a dusting of dried herbs. Those savory notes are perfectly integrated. The wine was finished in 25% new French barriques.
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Wine & Spirits
Stone’s estate pinot balances pretty cinnamon notes with cherry scents, whisked together in a suspension such that neither dominates. The flavors feel lighter and less ripe than the aromas would suggest, more cranberry and pink melon, but the texture gains heft from the spice and energy of the driving acidity. (800 cases)
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.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.