Winemaker Notes
Lingua Franca Estate Pinot Noir enters with red fruits of raspberry and pomegranate, juicy red cherry, and has moderate, round tannins that provide structure. The finish is medium long and mineral with a discernible salinity.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Pinot Noir Estate saw 20% whole clusters and 20% new oak. A representation of the vineyard, the blend can vary from year to year. The 2022 is a ripe ruby color and opens to notes of spice and ripe raspberries. Medium-bodied, it’s a great appellation wine, with ripe tannins and a great finish. Drink 2024-2036.
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Wine Spectator
So elegantly structured that its deep complexity sneaks up on you. Flavors of raspberry and cherry mix with crushed stone and black tea accents as this builds tension toward refined tannins.
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Vinous
The 2022 Pinot Noir Estate lifts from the glass with a flower shop bouquet complicated by incense, crushed stones and lavender-laced blackberries. This is soothingly round with cool-toned red berry fruits and tactile mineral tones elevated by brisk acidity. Inner violet and rose tones resonate through the long and potent finale as the 2022 finishes gently tannic and spicy.
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James Suckling
The nose is lifted and floral, with delicate aromas of cherry, pomegranate and hibiscus. The palate is medium-bodied with soft, integrated tannins and bright acidity, giving notes of citrus rind, rooibos tea and cassia bark. A balance of sweet and savory.
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.