Winemaker Notes
Mimi’s Mind 2017 is a more elegant, richly brocaded expression of Pinot noir produced from the nearby Hope Well Vineyard. Composed entirely of PN clone 667, which is small berried and spicy, this wine is energetic and nuanced with elevated mineral, floral, and fruit elements alongside truffles, and savory herb notes. The lengthy finish carries these flavors to a perfect conclusion. It is a wine to savor and celebrate.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby in color and shy to begin, the 2017 Pinot Noir Mimi's Mind slowly opens to licorice, allspice and cinnamon with blackberry and marionberry pie, loamy earth, violets, bergamot and an earthy undercurrent. It’s medium-bodied with oodles of ripe, earth-laced fruits, a pleasantly chalky frame and woven freshness, finishing long and flavorful. I suspect this will get better with a bit more time in bottle.
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Wine Enthusiast
Mimi Casteel is the grower for these grapes, as the name suggests. A dense, detailed expression of that vineyard, planted to a single Dijon clone, it’s loaded with tart black fruits, annotated with dried herbs, earth and clay. The finish brings zippy, citrus-infused acidity.
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Wine & Spirits
Everything about this wine feels delicate, lucid and precise. It’s sourced from Mimi Casteel’s meticulously farmed site not far from the Lingua Franca winery. Its scents reflect whole-cluster spice, with black tea and bergamot accents, while the flavors are limpid strawberry-rhubarb and red cherry, with a grip that reflects the shallow soils of the eastern Eola Hills. Cellar it, then decant a bottle for roast trout.
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Wine Spectator
This is all about structure, with an impressive core of bright acidity and finely groomed tannins, wrapped in pinpoint notes of raspberry, violet and crushed stone. Needs time to bloom. Best from 2021 through 2029.
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.